The Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, Recreation and Voluntary Organizations Clifton Grima, together with the Chief Executive of SportMalta Mark Cutajar and the Chairman of SportMalta Luciano Busuttil, announced a grant of €150,000 which will be distributed between 60 sports association as a refund they paid for the use of SportMalta’s sports facilities during 2020.
This was announced at the same time as a new conference hall was inaugurated, named ‘Sala Teddie Borg’ in the Cottonera sports complex. This hall accommodates meetings of about 100 people and can be divided into three to hold workshops in separate pieces. This hall is also equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment. This hall will also be able to be used by sports associations to organize their meetings.
At the same time, new warehouses for equipment and maintenance work were also inaugurated. All this amounts to around € 300,000.
Parliamentary Secretary Grima explained that sports associations lacked revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic which had repercussions on these associations. Therefore SportMalta is reimbursing 60 sports associations on the payment for the use of SportMalta’s sports facilities.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that SportMalta from the very beginning of the pandemic was at the forefront in order to give the necessary help to these associations. These included the Covid Wage Supplement scheme, a subsidy on land leases to sports associations, the Online Helpdesk and also commissioned medical protocols on how to make safe use of its facilities again.
The Parliamentary Secretary while thanking the Prime Minister and the Health Authorities for their wise leadership in these times, stated that since the beginning of this period several meetings have been held with the authorities and sports associations concerned and that this is another step to ensure that sports associations get back on their feet.
The Chairman of SportMalta spoke about the number of initiatives taken by SportMalta in 2020 especially during the pandemic. He mentioned that the money given today will be added to those given for the lease of SportMalta lands. He also mentioned how the entity was proactive with the BeActive At Home campaign
Chief Executive Mark Cutajr said that for SportMalta this year was also an important year. All facilities have been renovated to the highest standard. The assists given, though not an easy time, were a record. “We have built and continued to build new facilities and working with Parliamentary Secretary Grima we are working to continue to break these records for the good of the sport in the future.”
