Labour MP Glenn Bedingfield doubts whether the controversial American University of Malta can deliver on its promise to attract 4,000 students to the educational institution, in a critical opinion piece over proposals to extend the site.

Writing in The Times of Malta, Bedingfield focused on plans for a proposed dormitory, reiterating his calls for authorities to find alternatives within the area.

“We are going to lose yet another open space,” Bedingfield warned.

Bedingfield, however, insists that he is not actually against the AUM project, despite it taking up the former publicly owned Dock One for a minimal student body

“I am not against the project itself because I believe it has made a difference to the area and will continue to do so for many years to come. But I do join the people in saying, ‘Give us back our land!’” he explained.

The irony, of course, is that public land has been shipped around as a quickly sold commodity by the government he is such an ardent supporter of.

The loss of open spaces is not the only issue for Bedingfield. He explained that the project, which holds an area of 2,129 sqm, will also remove one of the vital car parks on the area that is used by several commuters who use the government’s much-promoted ferry service.

“There is little room for new car parks in the area,” he said.

“The AUM has a corporate social responsibility towards the surrounding area. That might include landscaping the land in question and the construction of an underground car park,” he continued.

Bedingfield’s call to action was spired on by the growing number of residents in the area who are opposed to the project, with the locality’s local council objecting to the plans.

Bedingfield, who in the past was one of the Labour Party’s key attack dogs, is one of many PL figures who have started speaking out against issues they were often too silent on in the past.

His moves may finally inspire those in similar positions to finally start focusing on the districts which elected them to parliament in the first place.

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