As I’ve said in yesterday’s post, today I’m going to share with you my first proposal for a better Msida. I’ve said this for a long time and I will continue working on this dream of mine until I see it fulfilled. I believe in partnership between entities. The private sector, the public sector and NGO’s alike.

Msida has got a wonderful opportunity to merge together three entities and they will each benefit from the partnership. I’m talking about the University of Malta, Msida St. Joseph Football Club and the Msida Local Council.

The proposal is the redevelop the Tal-Qroqq University Football Pitch into a multi-storey car park with a modern, fully synthetic football pitch on top.

My idea is that through dialogue, the three entities mentioned above; The University of Malta, Msida Local Council and Msida St. Joseph Football club will collaborate together as follows. The Msida Local Council will source extra funds (through EU funds, the central government and/or the private sector) and will work hand in hand with the University of Malta to redevelop the University football pitch (located in Triq l-Universita, Msida).

What I’m proposing is an underground multiple storey car park with a state of the art 11-a-side football pitch, two 5-a-side pitches, dressing rooms and other sporting facilities can be built on top. Msida St. Joseph FC will help in applying for funding through the Malta Football Association for the synthetic pitches. This is a win-win-win situation and all entities will benefit as follows:

  • The University: All parking spaces will be available as additional parking to the University of Malta from 08:00 till 17:00 (or as discussed accordingly) during school days.  The University will also make use of all sports facilities free of charge.  The land presently belongs to the University, and this will not change.
  • Msida St. Joseph FC: The club and the club’s nursery will make use of the football pitch and the rest of the sporting facilities free of charge after 17:00 on weekdays and other times as needed during the weekend. This will benefit the club and Msida’s children.
  • The Residents: The Local Council would make use of the multi storey car park for its residents between 17:00 and 08:00 the next day during University school days and all day during public holidays and weekends. This way, Msida residents at the University area would have much more parking spaces to utilise on their return home after work.

I’m a strong believer that when people come together great things can happen and this is just one suggestion that I have for a better Msida. It’s definitely not straightforward as there are many entities involved however with good will and good intentions I believe that it can be done.