The new Msida primary school was officially inaugurated on Friday, five years after its original deadline for completion.

The school, which was demolished, partially rebuilt, and then demolished again before completion, was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Education Minister Clifton Grima.

The partially EU-funded school, which cost €24 million, is carbon neutral and mostly powered by solar energy, Abela said on Friday.

"We are inaugurating a carbon-neutral school because this is the present and the future," he said, adding that Malta’s construction industry should follow this example.

Photo: Doi

The school has 40 classrooms, some of which are dedicated to specific subjects for personal and social development, art, music, science, literacy, and ethics.

The school also features a public library, a hall, and a recreational space that the Msida community can use after school hours.

The government had originally announced it would be demolishing the Msida primary school and building a new one in 2017, promising that the project would be finished in two years.

The Planning Authority approved two planning applications for works on the site - one filed in 2018 to demolish and excavate the school building as well as reintegrate part of the existing façade, and another - filed in 2019 - for the construction of the new school complex.

But as work outwardly appeared to progress, two years ago part of a newly built section of the school had to be demolished.

The government-owned company responsible for building schools - the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools - said at the time that several "deficiencies" had been found in the work carried out, which caused them not only to order the newly built portion of the school to be demolished but also to end their contractual relationship with the architect who was in charge of the project.

"The FTS has not only assigned the work to a different firm of architects, but it is also taking the necessary steps to ensure that the architect responsible for these deficiencies rectifies the situation and is held legally accountable," they had said.

Following the demolition saga, Grima said in December 2022 that works on the school would be completed in time to welcome students by September 2023, but, works failed to meet that deadline as well.