Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/604914
4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Malta- Today is informed that Busuttil personally communicated to the candidates his wish to see Joe Giglio join the PN parliamentary group. But Tony Abela was the first candidate to put his name for- ward for the casual election, and was soon after followed by Philip Mifsud, former Rabat mayor Ru- dolph Grima, former MP Peter Micallef, and Dingli local coun- cillor David Vassallo. After his election, Abela told the press that the commitment he had for the party, since the age of 23, was still going strong. "Up until this day, I lent my help whenever it was required – not only to people from my district, but to whoever needed it," the Rabat notary said. Abela had already submitted his nomination for the casual election held to fill in Lawrence Gonzi's seat in 2013 after the former Prime Minister resigned in the wake of the 2013 electoral rout. His seat was taken up by the PN's former financial controller Antoine Borg, who beat off the competition of six other candi- dates despite only getting 197 first count votes in the election itself. Joe Cassar resigned from par- liament earlier this month, fol- lowing MaltaToday's revelations about his undeclared 'donations' from businessman Joe Gaffarena, when he was health minister. Tony Abela was first elected to parliament in 1987 and again in 1996, 1998 and 2003. Contesting in one of Eddie Fenech Adami's two districts, Abela confirmed his heavyweight status by gain- ing 1,000 first count votes in the 2003 election. But he turned out to be a con- stant embarrassment for his par- ty and a target of Labour Party muckrakers due to a past business association with Indrì Zammit, who was arraigned in 2006 on drug trafficking charges. Zammit had also been Abela's canvasser before he was first convicted in 1994. On his watch, Abela was responsible for the army when in January 2005 it used excessive force to quell a peaceful protest by 90 persons held in the deten- tion facility at Hal-Safi. He then came under fire from the Italian media for letting a mi- grant boat carry on with its voy- age of death in rough seas, but the parliamentary secretary told parliament that the immigrants had refused the AFM's assistance as they were passing through Maltese waters. An AFM logbook later published by MaltaToday, which showed that the immi- grants were never asked whether they needed any help in the first place, contradicted this claim. Hours later, 29 of them drowned off the coast of Sicily. Faced with this damning piece of evidence the OPM insisted that the AFM craft and aircraft were close enough to the migrants' boat "so that every opportunity existed for the occupants of the boat to signal for help". The gaffe-prone Abela was even accused of forcing army officers to give him the general salute on the day marking the army's 37th anniversary, a privilege reserved for the Prime Minister and the AFM Commander. Unsurprisingly, Abela found himself a casualty of the GonziPN strategy in 2008, which resulted in a number of party veterans like him losing their seat. But his persistence in standing again in 2013 was rewarded and stands as testimony to the politician's best quality: his popularity at constit- uency level, especially in Rabat. News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2015 4 News READ THE GOSPEL OF JESUS For free Gospels by post ~ send an SMS on 79280325 www.tecmalta.org/blata.htm 'We can build MotoGP circuit in Malta' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Curiously, while the expression of interest's objectives state that the bidders will propose the location of the track, the British experts said they felt "blind- folded" as the government will be se- lecting the site and the decision has not been taken yet. But Glew's enthusiasm for the project is palpable and he says that as soon as the project's require- ments are defined when the request for proposal is launched in January, he is certain all interested investors will be on board. The experienced motor racing consultant said Malta is an "obvious choice" for such an investment that could cost anything between €50 and €100 million. Glew added that a spate of inves- tors from all around the globe, espe- cially the UK, are showing interest in the project. Together with John Byfield, a mo- torsport specialist lawyer, and Dafy- dd Broom, an international circuit designer, Glew was in Malta to look at potential sites and hold talks with all stakeholders before deciding on submitting a bid. Broom, who has worked on vari- ous projects, including the Sepang F1 track and the Kuala Lampur street circuit, explained that the plan is to construct a Fédération Interna- tionale de l'Automobile (FIA) Grade 2 or 1T track. An FIA Grade 2 track can host MotoGP races and other racing events including Formula 3000 and Nascar. Broom also noted that an FIA 1T licence – which would allow Formu- la 1 testing – was 'achievable." The design engineer said that To- tally Motorsport would prefer a site with natural elevation as this would keep the costs and construction time down. Broom said a track of such mag- nitude would take between six and 12 months to design and between 12 and 24 months to construct. The site and size of the track are yet to be decided, however Glew – who worked with various teams in Formula 1 for seven years – is deter- mined to put Malta on the interna- tional map of motorsports. "Motor racing is not detrimental, but beneficial on a number of differ- ent levels to Malta," Glew said. He explained that a multi-purpose circuit would "be good for the econ- omy, reduce road accidents and at- tract tourists." Insisting that such a circuit is feasi- ble and would create jobs, Glew said that the country's favourable climate was another advantage. Asked whether he is aware that such a project would rouse the ire of the environmental lobby, Glew said air and sound pollution and other possible problems will be mitigated through intelligent design and the use of the latest technologies. Citing the recent creation of For- mula E – a class of auto racing for electric-powered cars – Glew point- ed out that motorsport has also gone green. "I am here to convince people, including the environmental lobby, that this project will be beneficial to Malta," he said. Following the EOI announcement, Alternattiva Demokratika, Front Ħarsien ODZ and the Siggiewi lo- cal council said they would oppose the development of a race track on ODZ land, with the council saying that one of the proposed sites close to Dar tal-Providenza is the same size as the whole urban area of Sig- giewi. The Totally Motorsport represent- atives were non-committal when asked what size their track would be but Broom said he has designed international standard circuits in less than the 800,000 square metres cited for the site between Siggiewi and Qrendi. MaltaToday is informed that the shortlist of sites being considered for the track includes the stretch of land between Siggiewi and Qrendi, the area around the Hal Far quarter mile track and the pristine Mtahleb area. Most of the existing FIA Grade 2 and 1T tracks vary between 2km and 5km in length and cover up to 1.5 million square metres. Broom and Glew would not com- mit themselves on the length and size of the track, but they pointed out that the track would only be fea- sible if it has auxiliary facilities, such as cart racing facilities, hospitality services, a business park, retail out- lets and education facilities. Glew, who raced Formula Ford for three years before setting up a race team and race driver school said that the track would include a driv- ing education centre "to train young drivers in road safety in order to re- duce the number of casualties on the Maltese roads." In a clear reference to the lax se- curity measures at the Papaqli ghall-Istrina event which saw up to 26 people injured after a driver lost control of a supercar, Byfield said that holding motorsport events on anything other than a purpose built facility or completely closed off safe area is unacceptable. Guaranteeing state of the art secu- rity measures in the planned circuit, he said "spectators want to see races and events and they can be close to the action but within a safe and se- cure environment." Clearly, Totally Motorsport are not the only company interested. Last year, Maltese promoters Charles Bellia and Frans Deguara, through their company, ICSKA, proposed the construction of a circuit at the old airfield between Siggiewi and Qrendi or in Hal Far, close to where the airport runway ends. Both sites are on public land but reportedly ICSKA is also in talks with the owners of private land in the limits of Qrendi. The company has the backing of UK investors Copse Consortium, and has filed two planning applica- tions so far, although these are still at pre-screening stage. The proposed circuits are at least of 3.5 kms long. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MANGION Giglio was Busuttil's choice to replace Cassar Graeme Glew. . . enthusiastic