Putting the pieces together

Yesterday's inauguration of Grand Harbour Marina in Cottonera is the fulfilment of an important promise by the present Government to regenerate the south of Malta. Every time I visit Cottonera, I confirm my belief that apart from directing more tourists to this area, more Maltese who live in other areas need to discover this historic and artistic jewel.

The Cottonera marina has over the past years always been referred to as the crucial segment of this regeneration exercise. I would even refer to it as the heart and soul of the Cottonera waterfront capital project.

It needs nonetheless the rest of the body and it would have been a mistake to concentrate only on the marina at the expense of the rest.

Still, it will be the marina that breathes life into the rest of the development, while inversely the other components will ensure that the marina has not come about in a vacuum. While everything else may or may not happen later, all the ingredients will synergise together as befits such an important project.

The task of the present Government has been, and in many ways will remain, one of putting the pieces together. As with mosaic, the different pieces will have different shapes and colours, and may also be enchanting to look at and appreciate individually. But it is when all the pieces have come together that one can enjoy and cherish the overall fabric that is created.

In Cottonera, this argument applies to the waterfront project in its own right, where over the past years we have managed to involve not one consortium but at least three and to increase the investment exponentially in the process.

It also applies to the rest of the area where Government intervened directly with its own injections, be they in the form of a deluxe old people's home or the new sports complex, as well as through the various rehabilitation and restoration projects that were carried out on the historic jewels that lie outside the 'commercial footprint' but proudly belong to Cottonera and the rest of the nation nonetheless.

The new Cottonera marina does not merely try to replicate existing marinas and stop there, even if the growing demand for more and more berths could have justified that approach. The new marina has been planned and projected all along as the first of its kind in our country.

It is meant to be different. It is meant to offer a safe harbour to super yachts, the likes of which we have rarely, if at all, seen in our country and when these take up berths in Cottonera we shall have good reason to compare them to luxurious ships belonging to foreign owners making a choice in favour of Malta to berth their expensive toys!

The marina offers 214 berths for yachts of a length varying between 15 and 55 metres, as well as 33 berths for the super yachts that vary in length between 30 and 100 metres. Its pontoons have been manufactured out of heavy duty concrete, built purposely for it and imported from Finland.

These pontoons, with a width of up to four metres, offer stable, secure berths to the yacht owners. Through the pontoons and berthing points, the marina developers have provided all communication systems possible, be it a supply of water and electricity, a link-up to an ordinary telephone line, ICT facilities, ADSL communications or cable television.

The marina also offers the latest equipment to clean up sewage from the super yachts, and will also provide an efficient fuelling system.

A difficult issue that has cropped up between Government and the consortium doing the project implementation regarded making provision for boat owners from the Cottonera area.

On the one hand we wanted all these owners to continue to enjoy their traditional berthing rights at the same level of expense that they have been used to for the past years; on the other we wanted to ensure that the number of these owners is established fairly and objectively.

I have had various constructive meetings with committees representing boat owners from Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua. We went together through procedures to establish the precise details of the owners in question as well as details about their boats.

Even if initially one might have imagined that we are talking of opri tal-bahar of modest proportions, it was clear soon enough that quite a few of those "opri" were significantly larger and in any case the total number was far higher than had been calculated originally.

Be that as it may, and incidentally best of good fortune to all those who throughout the years developed through their own hard work and dedication a hobby or even a trade of which they have good reason to be proud, we wanted to ensure that the principles of social justice are kept in mind while the waterfront project becomes a reality.

There are now as many as 300 berths for these "opri". That is twice as many as had been originally foreseen in the contract entered into between Government and the consortium doing the project.

A few weeks back when the final agreements between Government, the consortium and the boat owners' committees were reached and signatures placed on the dotted lines, I was as happy and satisfied as I was yesterday evening to see another dream come to fruition.

In this respect, a word of gratitude is due to my colleague Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who ably supported the small boat owners' cause, as well as the local councils of Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua as they intervened constructively and diligently during the delicate negotiations not only in this particular respect but also with regard to other details of the Cottonera project.

Gratitude is also due to the shareholders and directors in Grand Harbour Marina, bringing together Maltese and foreign shareholders through the participation of the prestigious yachting firm Camper and Nicholsons that will be managing the marina as a result of a contract drawn up for the purpose.

My 'thank-you' list can never be exhaustive, but would definitely not be complete without a special mention of my head of secretariat, Dr Albert Caruana, as well as the projects co-ordinator, Charles Zammit, who routinely and meticulously deal with all the difficulties that arise from time to time.

Their task is to find a solution to every problem, defying the old quip about those persons who deem it their job in life to find a problem for every solution! They are dedicated trouble shooters on whom I can rely.

The investment carried out on the marina project has been estimated at Lm4 million. Moreover Grand Harbour Marina are carrying out an intensive, aggressive marketing campaign through top quality brochures that are directed to key players in the international yachting scene, advertising in leading yachting publications, as well as participating in international yachting fairs where the persons one should be meeting are there.

The marketing exercise has by itself cost a quarter of a million Maltese lira and, from news that I can pick up from the developers, formally or otherwise, it is clear that that exercise is not being carried out in vain. I wish them the best of luck.

This is the way forward to develop further high yield niches in tourism. This is also what proper urban regeneration and quality development deserved in the Cottonera area should be about.

Only a week ago, I had occasion to be in Vittoriosa to participate in an event organised by Casino di Venezia on the occasion of its second anniversary since that project component was inaugurated on August 1, 2001.

A visit to Cottonera is a must more than ever, not only to see the new marina in place but also to see the other pieces that have been put together. Government is not only happy to associate itself with the project but is acting as the catalyst for it to happen.

Government saw to the demolition of the former 'Chinese' building that used to abut into Fort St Angelo as well as to provide alternative and more appropriate accommodation to the Chinese community who made use of that building.

The infrastructure for the entire area, with regard to water and electricity as well as drainage, has been upgraded to facilitate the waterfront project and to offer the entire Cottonera area more adequate amenities.

Government will be upgrading the quays in the area to ensure that they are sufficiently load bearing. The consortium responsible for the new Grand Harbour Marina will on its part extend the same quays.

As a new generation of yachts and super yachts sail their way into the new marina, they will be plying through a Grand Harbour that is flanked by a unique line of fortifications that represent one of the fascinating legacies of the Knights of Malta. Those yachts will be entering Cottonera - encountering history and artistic jewels.

For us putting the pieces together, it will remain an ongoing commitment of the highest order and satisfaction.

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