€20m race-track to be built at Hal Far – PM Abela

A race-track of international standards will be built at Hal-Far, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced.

He was speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, which was held at the Ta’ Qali basketball pavilion. The meeting discussed Malta's strategy in sports.

Abela said that €20m will be invested in the project.

“We want to go for something professional, without causing inconvenience to residents. The track will be built in Hal Far in a zone which is already used for such sport,” he said.

No ODZ land will be taken up by the project, he said, adding that government had discarded plans that were drawn up years ago and which would have taken up more land and be in closer vicinity to residential areas.

Discussions also involved the impact of the noise generated by the track and mitigating efforts place, he said.

A plan of the race-track was uploaded on Facebook by parliamentary secretary for sport, Clifton Grima.

Grima said that motor sport that already takes place in Malta, such as drag racing and karting, will be strengthened, while the circuit will be built close to already-existing facilities, which will be upgraded.

The idea of the creation of

will be

in a motorsport track has long been promised by both major political parties.

In its 2013 electoral manifesto, the Labour Party had pledged to identify a site for the development of a motorsports track. In its 2017 manifesto, the Labour Party said: "After the necessary studies took place, a call will be issued so that our country will have a car racing track. The zone identified in which this racetrack should be built is in Ta' Qali and it is to be built without recreational or natural space being lost."

Government seems to have now dropped the idea of using Ta' Qali and gone for the Hal-Far option.

Back in 2018, Structural engineering firm Periti Studio had taken the initiative to design a concept proposal for a race track in Hal-Far. However, hopes for that track were later dashed as government had said that the land was earmarked for industrial purposes. The design and precise location of the government-proposed track is slightly different than that which had been proposed in 2018.