The Grand Harbour and rehabilitation of Valletta/Cottonera

The Grand Harbour: a truly magnificent waterway, over three km long, but practically empty of any traffic. Steeped in history, it is surrounded by one of the most impressive series of bastions ever built anywhere. Our capital city, Valletta, and the Three Cities are separated by this practically dead stretch of water. What a pity.

One could almost say: what a disgrace. Just compare our Grand Harbour with other waterways in Europe: the Grand Canal in Venice, bustling with vaporetti crisscrossing at every point, laden with passengers and cargo; the activity on the Thames in London, the Seine in Paris and so many others.

Other countries make the most of their gift of waterways, but not we in Malta. Why not? We do have something we can be proud of and put others to shame, but we have allowed this great arterial highway to become moribund.

Our road traffic is reaching saturation point (has anybody ever worked out the millions of liri wasted every year in the time spent in getting from A to B stuck in traffic?); Valletta struggles to be rehabilitated; the Three Cities are out on a limb, almost isolated. Yet it was not always so.

Those of us who are over 60 years old can well remember an efficient system using harbour ferries and a lift which served the working population of Valletta and the Three Cities very well indeed. Maybe it is time to think back to the Fifties. It is time to re-create what we have lost. Were we better when we were worse?

I propose a system of harbour ferries combined with lifts to the Upper Barracca. Ferries from Kalkara, Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua and Marsa could carry passengers from these cities to Valletta and vice-versa and to each other.

Persons living in the Paola and Zabbar areas might find it more convenient to go to Valletta via the closest ferry point; a large car-park area could be built in the space presently occupied by No. 1 Dock. The Old Customs House in Lascaris Wharf could again be the Valletta focal point of the ferries.

A lift to the Upper Barracca existed 100 years ago; building fast lifts should be no problem for modern construction technology. The environmental impact would be minimal. Lift passengers would be deposited a few metres from Castille Square leading right to the heart of Valletta.

Passengers from the cruise liners would only have to walk, on a flat road (no hills, no steps), for about 200 metres to go to the lifts. It would be easy for someone living across the Grand Harbour from Valletta to cross by ferry and lift and go to work or to do shopping, or dine, or go to the cinema, a concert or a lecture in Valletta, returning one hour or, if needs be, ten hours later.

A regular, frequent ferry service could easily make this feasible. With more and more frustrated drivers on our sub-standard roads, a ferry/lift service would create enough demand. If private enterprise does not think it economically viable, then the state should step in to provide this essential service. After all, the 'road' (i.e. the harbour) is there, all three km of it - it is free and ready to be used; there are no potholes or bumps.

All it needs is the transport system on it. The number, routes, size and speed of ferries can be worked out to be economically reasonable. (No fancy tourist-oriented prices here; the system should be meant primarily for the man in the street, the housewife doing her shopping, the adolescent going to the cinema or a play).

The Harbour Authority would make sure that safety standards are adhered to. A further development would be the encouragement of a system of 'water-taxis', but no cartels, please) e.g. dghajjes with outboard motors. (One or two exist in Senglea but are used only for tourist sight-seeing purposes).

The system outlined above will not only benefit Valletta but also other towns around Grand Harbour; it will make it easy for, say, a tourist in Valletta to pop over to see Vittoriosa and its treasures, for a housewife to go shopping in Cospicua or Senglea, etc.

Equally, the person at the new yacht marina in Vittoriosa can easily go to Valletta, or to Kalkara, etc. It should open up new areas of Malta to entrepreneurs. I feel that it would be useful if the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee, the Valletta council, the councils of the other towns involved and even the Malta Tourism Authority, if these bodies were to get together to discuss this theme which will benefit not only tourists, but more importantly the inhabitants of our islands.

Another subject for thought would be the development of a ferry service on the other side of Valletta from Msida and the Strand to St George's Bay with stops in between at Tigné, Spinola, Paceville (all major tourist centres), joining up with the Marsamxett/Valletta ferry service. Depending on the weather, such a service could probably run for over six months of the year and considerably ease the congestion of road traffic.

The recent calls for ideas by a property development company on the rehabilitation of Valletta, and the call by the Opposition Labour Party to develop the Grand Harbour as an economic entity are all steps in the right direction.

Maybe a 'brainstorming' meeting where all interested could give their ideas would come up with useful suggestions for developing and improving some of Malta's greatest assets, i.e. the Grand Harbour, Marsamxett Harbour, Valletta and the Three Cities.