Rebuilding the Opera House site

I have been unusually quiet in this whole debate as I truly wish to hear a wide range of opinions before I can express my own ideas (about which I have often written in the past, especially in this paper).

Mr Evarist Saliba (The Sunday Times, October 31) wants to take credit for the idea of building a Parliament building on the Opera House site. For the record, I have to tell him that in my maiden speech in Parliament in 1987 I suggested that the first project for the new government should be to rebuild the Barry building to house Parliament. At the time I was convinced, and still am, that Parliament must move out of the Palace.

The Palace, the most important civil building in Valletta, should not house Parliament but should be dedicated only to the President's Office (which needs more space) and to more museum space.

Currently Parliament is occupying the original Armoury in a not very compatible (to say the least) Richard England design. A lot of empty spaces in the inner yards have been built up to house tiny offices for ministers. Members have very little space. The select committees need more room. In any case, this most important building needs to, have more space opened up to the public and to the tourist.

In an article I wrote in this paper last year I explained that following the government's decision to build a National Arts Centre in the Opera House site I had backed this proposal to the full, though I still believed that Parliament needed a new building. Indeed it was this office that prepared and issued the first development brief.

The results of that competition showed however that the site is a relatively small one for a full National Arts Centre. However it is large enough to house a theatre. I explained in my article that if Government intended to go ahead with this plan then the only other building in Valletta that could house a Parliament is the Sacra Infermeria.

I agree with Mr Saliba that Fort St Elmo is not at all ideal for a Parliament building. There is no building big enough to house a Parliament chamber and God forbid that anyone would come up with a proposal to build some modern box in the Piazza d'Armi at the upper or lower level.

Fort St Elmo, if anything, is ideal to house the National Arts Centre. The open air theatre space at the lower level is excellent during our long dry period. The rooms can house various organisations and museum space. But this matter is currently being discussed and it would be unfair of me to speak further.

Back to the Opera House site. What is the solution? I have to admit that I am still very much in favour of my original 1987 idea. Malta must be the only country in the world that does not have a dedicated building for its Parliament. The space, however, is a very sensitive one and I believe that Government must have as wide an open discussion as possible. But it is time to decide and move forward, whatever decision is taken.

At the same time we must also work hard to have more cultural space in Valletta, which it really needs. I have stated already that it is simply not sustainable to have a (very under-utilised) 1,000-seat theatre at the Sacra Infermeria and a new theatre at the Opera House site.

The decision therefore between Parliament and a new cultural space must cover both buildings and not individually. Over the past three years considerable sums have been spent to upgrade (not in the right taste at all for a historical building) the conference rooms at the Sacra Infermeria, so it seems unlikely that Parliament would move there.

If therefore the decision is to continue to subsidise the Mediterranean Conference Centre and build Parliament at the Opera House site (hopefully with enough Barry in it) then the decision must be to develop Fort St Elmo later as a national (or rather a Mediterranean) Arts Centre.

May I emphasise that these ideas are my own and do not necessary reflect the views of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project or its committee.