A pool in Marsascala is to be returned to the water polo club that was made to sign it away in 2016, cabinet decided on Tuesday.

Ministers agreed to kick-start parliamentary work to return the pool in the Żonqor area to the Marsascala Aquatic Sports Club, Robert Abela said in a statement on social media.

“This is another decision that will lead to positive community effects,” he said.

The decision rolls back another part of the failed Muscat-era plan to develop a university campus in Żonqor. Land in the area was leased to Jordanian investors Sadeen Ltd in 2016, for them to build a campus for their American University of Malta.

Those plans enraged environmentalists, as large tracts of ODZ land – as well as the pool – were to be developed as part of the project.

But with enrolments far behind projections and the Cospicua-based university struggling to take off, the investors’ Żonqor plans fell by the wayside.

Last year, the Abela-led government agreed with Sadeen to take back land leased to them in Żonqor in exchange for the investors getting land for a campus extension at Smart City in Xgħajra.

The Marsascala Aquatic Sports Club initially took over the Żonqor pool in 2005. When the government moved to retake the site for its Sadeen plans, it committed itself to building a new pool for the club within a five-year period.

Despite the deal involving public land, it was never discussed in parliament. In 2021, Times of Malta revealed that contract bound the club to secrecy.