Joint effort to restore Qala battery

Din l-Art Helwa and the Qala local council yesterday signed a cooperation agreement for the restoration of St Anthony's Battery in Qala.

The restoration is expected to cost about Lm35,000.

Both organisations will each be forking out Lm7,500 towards the restoration. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority will also be financing the project - using money it is collecting from the planning gains of two projects.

Mepa representative Alex Camilleri said one project had a planning gain of Lm7,000 and this money has already been submitted to the authority. The other has a planning gain of Lm14,000. Mepa, however, does not yet have this money because the project has not yet started.

Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg told a news conference the council, together with Greek and Italian partners, had also applied for EU funding under the programme Interreg.

The project, being led by Qala, has been accepted for consideration by the European Commission. It is asking for €1.2 million, which would have to be shared between the three partners, with Qala, getting 50 per cent as it is leading the project.

Qala's share of the money would be used for the restoration and for the development of a heritage park in the surrounding area. Should the council get the money from the EU, it will use the money it is currently allocating to the restoration elsewhere.

Mr Buttigieg said the council had always wanted to restore the battery, which is in a ruinous state, and in 1995 had requested Din l-Art Helwa's assistance to submit an application for its restoration to Mepa. But when the restoration permits were issued in 1997, two developers claimed ownership of the battery and the work could not start.

Since then, the council sent many letters to the authorities asking for the battery to be requisitioned and be considered as national heritage but to no avail.

A final attempt was made in a letter to the Prime Minister last month and the reply offered some hope for the council because Dr Gonzi said that he was discussing the issue with Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg to see whether the battery could be requisitioned through what is known as possession and use.

The battery was taken over by the Lands Department last April and was passed on to the council in August.

The council then again approached Din l-Art Helwa asking for assistance and the national trust obliged. As the Mepa permits had since expired, a fresh and updated application was submitted and this was now being considered.

Din l-Art Helwa's executive president, Martin Galea, said this was the second joint venture the NGO was going in for. Its first was with the Nadur council.

Historical note

The battery is an early 18th century military outpost designed to serve as a gun battery for the defence of the coast and the channel between Gozo and Comino.

It was built during the reign of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena and was probably designed by French military engineer Charles Francois Mondion in 1731-2.

The battery retains its original relationship with the surrounding landscape and seascape as the latter have remained practically unchanged since 1731.