Marsascala Council has urged the government to ensure that the waterpolo pool in the locality is handed back to the local club - Marsascala Aquatic Sports Club.

In a statement, the council welcomed the announcement by the prime minister on Monday that land in Marsascala handed to the American University of Malta in 2015 would be returned to the government. 

It said it looked forward to the planting of a woodland on the site. 

It said the title of the waterpolo pool should be returned to Marsascala Aquatic and the site should be developed into a modern waterpolo complex. 

The former-national pool was part of the land leased to Sadeen Education Ltd - the investors behind the AOM -  on March 11, 2016, for it to build a university campus there.

Marsascala Aquatic Sports Club had obtained that land under lease for 16 years in 2005, renewable for another two terms of 16 years each.

Times of Malta reported in 2021 that when the government wanted to evict the Marsascala Club from the premises to make it available for an American University of Malta campus, it signed a secret deal with the club that was never discussed in parliament, despite involving the giveaway of public land.   

The government had agreed to build a new waterpolo pitch at its own expense within five years of the agreement and transfer the finished facility to the club within six months of completion.