Putting the pieces together

It was close to midnight last Tuesday when the contract was signed. After months of negotiations and hard work, an agreement was reached between Casinò di Venezia SpA and Port Cottonera Ltd through which the former assumed the obligation to build a five-star hotel along the Vittoriosa waterfront. Another crucial component of the Cottonera project will come through.

There could not be more tangible proof that Casinò di Venezia not only intends to carry on with its operations in Vittoriosa but is now planning to expand its investments and commitments further by engaging Venetian and Maltese entrepreneurs of repute to build a luxury hotel next to the Casinò. Earlier this year, I travelled to Venice for talks with the mayor, Paolo Costa.

True enough, there was then some doubt cast about the Venetian investment in Malta, not least from some quarters in Venice that preferred their company to expand further in Italy rather than come to Malta. Moreover, the fact that the Malta side of the business was not at that stage yielding the desired results together with doubts as to whether it was being run as efficiently as it should have been, raised concerns in local and national quarters to the effect that the investment made in Malta should have been retained within the Italian peninsula.

In my own discussions with the mayor of Venice, I had made the point that the Casinò di Venezia in Malta needed to be supported by a hotel of repute for it to achieve the desired feasibility. When the present government planned the Cottonera project, we had insisted from the very beginning that a hotel was required as one of the components.

We could not accept the argument being made by some Opposition members that a hotel and a casino should not be set up in this area, implying that foreigners are to visit Cottonera by day but make sure to enjoy more tourist-oriented areas like Sliema, St Julian's or for that matter Bugibba when it comes to the night!

Government has acted and will continue to act as a catalyst in bringing all the pieces together that make up the Cottonera project. A casino and a hotel next to each other will lead to the kind of commercial synergy and job creation that is required in this area.

Tomorrow Italian entrepreneurs and technical experts in the field of setting up hotels of international repute will be with us for a brief but intensive two days of further discussions to establish the precise modalities required for the Vittoriosa hotel.

The Cottonera project as envisaged by Government entails an investment of a minimum of Lm16 million. The additional investment being poured into the separate components of the project is indicative that the total amount of money brought into Cottonera will be substantially higher than the minimum set by Government.

Three years ago, we signed the contract for the Cottonera project with Cottonera Waterfront Group and Port Cottonera Ltd. The project has not only kicked off but also gained momentum.

We saw the project through all the initial and difficult negotiations, through its parliamentary passage, through a complex planning process and we remain involved in its implementation since Government's role remains that of an active facilitator.

Cottonera Waterfront Group commenced works in June 2000. Works carried out include the demolition of Cooperage Stores as well as of the bridge built in the Seventies to lead up to Fort St Angelo. Moreover the 'Chinese Building' abutting into the same Fort has been brought down, clearing the quay, and alternative premises for the Chinese community have been provided elsewhere. Seagate Vaults and the stores below Fort St Angelo have been cleaned. In the meantime, a block of residential apartments and commercial outlets facing Kalkara has been built.

I would immediately add that it was Government, without any prompting from the Opposition or other entity, that intervened with the consortium to limit the volume of this particular building, to better protect the perspective of the Grand Harbour and to take account of representations made to us by residents of Old Prison Street in Vittoriosa.

A major component of the Cottonera project is the building of a yacht marina. A subsidiary company bringing together Cottonera Waterfront Group, more Maltese entrepreneurs as well as Camper and Nicholson will handle this part of the project. On October 11 this year, MEPA approved the relevant application for the building of this marina after correctly making sure that the necessary marine archaeological and wave studies were carried out to their satisfaction. The permit provides for a marina that will be able to take up to 255 yachts of which 34 will be super yachts. Works on the marina are expected to commence early next year.

Internationally famous yacht owners have already been in contact with the company that will run the marina to book berths for their craft. The sheer grandeur and luxury of the super yachts that are expected to make Cottonera their home port will provide added value to the project.

On the same day that MEPA approved the application for the marina, it approved an application by Government for the reinforcement and realignment of the quays in the area. The quays have been retained as public property and it is our duty to provide for repairs of an extraordinary nature. Our intervention is required since in some areas it looks at though it would be the yachts that offer berthing to the quay rather than the other way round. Strengthening and improving the infrastructure in the area is one of the benefits that the project will bestow on Cottonera.

Similarly, we are enhancing electricity, water and telephone supplies for the sake of the project in its own right, as well as for the benefit of the entire Cottonera region.

In putting the pieces together, Government is not only looking at the commercial project. Government is on its own initiative seeing to other components that make up the Cottonera fabric.

Bringing down the wall that used to separate Dock No. 1 from St Theresa Street and Gavino Gulia Square, and replacing the same with a decorative railing, has been one such component. In the process we ensured that the residents of Cospicua could breathe again.

Government will be seeing to the proper development of Dock No. 1 area bringing further added wealth and opportunities to Cottonera.

Another component is the rehabilitation factor. Government has set up the Cottonera Rehabilitation Project for this purpose. Over the past four years, we have carried out a number of important projects in this direction.

Be it restoring St Helen's Gate in Cospicua, the façade of St Paul's Church in the same area, or seeing to the fortifications near St Helen's Gate and near Polverista Gate have been among the pieces that we wanted to bring together in a massive rehabilitation exercise.

A clean-up near St Helen's Gate meant the removal of hundreds of truckloads of inert waste that had been dumped there and revealing the line of magnificent fortifications.

In Vittoriosa we saw to Couvre Porte, rehabilitated the belvedere next to it and we are now working on restoring Notre Dame Gate and the Victory statue. Other works carried out include restoring halls within the Armoury that can now be used for conferences, as well as rehabilitating the bridge leading to Boffa Street, the wartime shelters, apart from St James and St John's Cavaliers in Vittoriosa.

In Senglea we restored St Michael's statue and are now working on St Anne's Gate. In Kalkara, we embellished the bay and commenced works on Our Saviour's Chapel.

These rehabilitation and restoration works are not the end of the story. What about the old people's home in Cospicua, providing a family resource centre in Vittoriosa, a sports pavilion in Cospicua, reconstructing Hompesch Road in Fgura, setting up a regional park in Zabbar as well as clearing 200 truckloads of waste in the area between Kalkara and Xghajra?

Putting the pieces together is a labour of love in a region that deserves it. Cottonera represents a collection of architectural, artistic and historic jewels that merits to be appreciated and enjoyed not only by the residents who live there but also by all those of us who visit the area, or by tourists who need to be brought regularly into Cottonera.