The government has no plans to turn the Gozo swimming pool project into a hotel, the Gozo Ministry said this afternoon.

Referring to a story in yesterday's the Times of Malta that a private company which signed a preliminary agreement with the Gozo Ministry to develop a large parcel of public land into a public swimming pool complex in Victoria, wants to develop the area into a fully-fledged hotel complex which will also include the pool, the ministry said the project would remain sports focused.

It said negotiations were currently underway for a concession agreement after a call for submissions of interest had been made.

The project, the ministry said, would remain a sports one for the benefit of Maltese and Gozitans.

The facility would also include a therapeutic pool for the rehabilitation of persons with a disability or patients needing specific therapy.

This, the ministry said, was the government’s sole interest. All other activity at the complex should not be speculative but should serve the needs of the pool, promised by pre-2013 administrations which failed to do anything about it.