Fort St Elmo

I have read with interest the letter by Michael Bonnici (July 26) and I am in agreement with most of the comments he has made regarding Fort St Elmo.

Fort St Elmo (together with the former Royal Opera House) are monuments that should shame us all. There is national consensus that Fort St Elmo cannot be left in its pitiful state any longer and a serious initiative needs to be launched to restore it to its former glory. Cleaning up and securing Fort St Elmo is one positive step forward but much more needs to be done. Unless we find a viable use for this magnificent monument then all works carried out will only serve for a very limited time period and its deterioration will continue.

In his letter, Mr Bonnici mentioned the work Mepa had carried out in 1997. During the 1996-1998 Labour administration for the first time a serious effort was made to stimulate interest and eventually launch the Fort St Elmo project. Mepa prepared a development brief for this fort which was then discussed in a public seminar. This development brief identified both the problems, such as the relocation of the "carnival workshops" as well as proposed uses for this site - which also incorporated the Evans Building. It was proposed that the Evans Building be demolished and rebuilt as a four- and five-star hotel.

Unfortunately, the 1998 election stopped this project and nothing has happened over the past six years except for the occasional clean up. Some months ago an international philanthropic organisation had shown keen interest in taking over this project and converting it for their non-profit making use while at the same time allowing totally free public access.

The project proposed by this organisation also included the Evans Building and, possibly, the Mediterranean Conference Centre. To prove their serious intentions this organisation was ready to provide proof of funding of $100 million.

To the best of my knowledge, they met Minister Jesmond Mugliett and informed him of their interest in this project. All they wanted to know was whether the government was interested in their proposal. If the answer was in the affirmative they would have worked out the details of their proposal for eventual presentation to the government. The organisation was not requesting any sort of commitment.

As far as I am informed, Mr Mugliett turned down the request. Luckily, this organisation is still interested in setting up their European headquarters in Malta and so they are now looking at alternative sites.

However, it is very unfortunate that they were treated by the government in this manner. It is a well-known fact that the government does not have the funds to carry out work on such projects so it can only be realistically carried out by a private organisation.

I hope that for the sake of our country's heritage this project moves forward as quickly as possible.

Mr Buhagiar is shadow minister for public works and transport.