Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/509499
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015 6 News MATTHEW VELLA A new land-grab is at hand. In the south, 90,000 square metres of virgin, agricultural land is being made available to a Jordanian group of contractors and real estate devel- opers who will for the first time ever, build a university campus for 4,000 paying students. The Sadeen Group are being re- galed with a tract of land in 'outside development zones', because ODZ land used for agriculture has a much lower value than that allocated for development. The sales pitch is to dub the new €115 million campus 'American Uni- versity', evoking associations with the universities in Cairo and Beirut, but Sadeen's university is neither connected to the decades-old insti- tutions, nor is it part of any brand. Even the 'AUM' logo with the fa- miliar Maltese sentinel of yore bor- rows the exact colours of Washing- ton DC's American University. The promo ad on YouTube features Maltese actors putting on 'exotic' ac- cents, and also sells the impression that Sadeen is connected with the "concept of the American Universi- ty" by featuring a brief glimpse of the various 'American Universities' in Cairo, Beirut, Paris, Sharjah, Rome, Athens, Central Asia, Kuwait, and Nigeria. Save for their for-profit model, there is no common ownership be- tween the universities, except for the way they style their educational pro- grammes under the 'American' tag. And the Sadeen Group has no background in educational man- agement: it is primarily a construc- tion firm that has provided housing, hotels, travel and rental services, and real estate development in Jor- dan and the Gulf area. It also builds schools across the region. With a curriculum carved out by Chicago's DePaul University – ranked 110 by US News and 340 in a university ranking by Forbes – Sadeen are looking for a 'cheap' piece of land to build their university, branded 'American' as a way of attracting well-off families to finance their children's educa- tion. They have found the full coop- eration of the Maltese government. Earlier this week, MaltaToday con- firmed that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's chief ex- ecutive officer, Johann Buttigieg, and his 'coordination unit' were tasked with identifying the site for the Sadeen Group. MEPA falls directly under the Office of the Prime Minis- ter, through parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon. MEPA said the area selected had to be in the south – ostensibly by politi- cal decision – owned by the govern- ment, not in a protected area, and serviced well by roads and energy infrastructure. The only area found that fitted the bill was that off Zon- qor point, Marsaskala, a parcel of land 90% owned by the state. Sadeen has yet to present a project description statement and prepare an environmental impact assessment to MEPA, putting the proposed uni- versity through Malta's often ques- tionable planning process. On its part DePaul, of Chicago, said it has no financial stake in AUM, and no agreement to provide DePaul fac- ulty or staff to AUM. "DePaul will not be involved in hiring faculty or staff for AUM and will not be in- volved in AUM operations." Sadeen contracted DePaul to pro- vide initial curriculum material, in order for Sadeen to receive a licence to operate the university. "We are willing to continue collaboration and cooperation with Sadeen and the American University, by provid- ing consultative academic support to the project. No agreement in this di- rection has been signed yet, but one is under negotiation." A new 'smart city' As expected, the committal of such a large tract of Maltese countryside and coastline to the service of Jor- danian speculators has incensed the environment lobby. The Labour government will spare no thought for the "disused agricul- tural" land in the area: it wants AUM to generate 400 jobs for the south and put money in local businesses. Such state-sponsored projects by the private sector are never clear- cut. In 2006, the Nationalist govern- ment announced that a subsidiary of Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's business empire, Te- com, wanted to create an offshoot of its Smart City in Malta – a futuris- tic IT village that would attract big names to the island. Behind the deal was Tecom's inten- tion to acquire former state telecoms company Maltacom, today renamed Go plc, with its portfolio of €50 mil- lion in properties formerly belonging to the Telemalta Corporation. Smart City Malta was set to create 5,600 new jobs as the "core service hub" of the island, under pain of an annual €920,000 fine. The jobs never materialised, and neither was Tecom fined for breaching this condition. The project has not even been final- ised. As MaltaToday revealed soon after, only 19% of the project's footprint was intended for information and communication technology purpos- es – the raison d'être of the project – while 20% was for real estate. Opposition leader Alfred Sant had warned Smart City would "serve to screen the transactions of luxury apartment entrepreneurs from abroad", and that the government had camouflaged this intention by "boasting about the thousands of jobs in IT" that it would create. Fast-tracked through MEPA, lo- cal plans for the Ricasoli area were amended to allow residential, hotel and commercial development. Tecom was offered the former industrial area, the size of 40 foot- ball grounds, for a ground rent of €150,000 a year, increasing by 5% every five years. Tecom said it would spend €24 million on landscaping, leaving 33% of the project develop- ment-free, while half of the project went into real estate and commercial development. Even though building Smart City would produce 651,119 cubic metres of construction waste, the greatest generator of waste in Maltese his- tory, MEPA approved the project in October 2008, just two months after the environment impact assessment was issued for public consultation – a record time for any project of such a dimension. REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 Catering and hospitality; Textile products; and Good quality gifts and mementos. The Parliamentary Secretariat for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds, within the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto, invites proposals from commercial entities in respect of potential sponsorship opportunities in the context of Malta's forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to be held in 2017. Areas in which the EU Presidency Unit welcomes contributions include: Transport services; IT goods and services; Telecommunications related services; Logistics services; Other areas may be identified in due course. The guidelines governing the sponsorship opportunities including the exposure given to the Presidency Corporate Sponsors are available online at www.eufunds.gov.mt. APPLICATIONS WILL BE RECEIVED UNTIL THE 30TH JUNE 2015. Further queries can be addressed to Mr Charles Mizzi, Executive Director – Media & Marketing on charles.a.mizzi@gov.mt. REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 The Parliamentary Secretariat for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds, within the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto, invites proposals from commercial entities in respect of potential sponsorship opportunities in the context of Malta's forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to be held in 2017. Areas in which the EU Presidency Unit welcomes contributions include: Transport services; IT goods and services; Telecommunications related services; Logistics services; Other areas may be identified in due course. The guidelines governing the sponsorship opportunities including the exposure given to the Presidency Corporate Sponsors are available online at APPLICATIONS WILL BE RECEIVED UNTIL THE 30TH JUNE 2015. Further queries can be addressed to Mr Charles Mizzi, Executive Director – Media & Marketing on charles.a.mizzi@gov.mt. REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FOR COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 352326$/6,1&211(&7,21:,7+0$/7$·6 PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 THE EU 2017 The Parliamentary Secretariat for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds, within the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto, invites proposals from commercial entities in respect of potential sponsorship opportunities in the context of Malta's forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to be held in 2017. Areas in which the EU Presidency Unit welcomes contributions include: Transport services; IT goods and services; Telecommunications related services; Logistics services; Other areas may be identified in due course. The guidelines governing the sponsorship opportunities including the exposure given to the Presidency Corporate Sponsors are available online at APPLICATIONS WILL BE RECEIVED UNTIL THE 30TH JUNE 2015. PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIAT FOR THE EU PRESIDENCY 2017 AND EU FUNDS of the Council of the 2017 Maltese Presidency European Union Cheap land, Jordanian builders, and Labour's Even the 'AUM' logo with its familiar Maltese sentinel borrows the colours of Washington DC's American University Members of the Sadeen Group look on as the Prime Minister addresses the press after the signing of a heads of agreement for the construction of the 'American University of Malta'