Ggantija visitor's centre

I refer to the letter entitled Temporary Visitors' Centre (May 30) in which the writer objected to the temporary nature of the proposed visitors' centre at Ggantija Temples.

The article referred to featured on the Times on May 23 and was a journalistic report of a parliamentary debate on Heritage Malta's achievements. The report was not meant to offer an exhaustive and holistic stock-take of all projects currently being undertaken by the national agency. Suffice to say that the ongoing refurbishment and upgrading of the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, including the installation of new state-of-the-art, showcases was not featured in the report.

At Heritage Malta, we prefer to use the term "interim" rather than temporary, given that the Visitors' Centre at Ggantija is an interim solution that will provide a light-weight and fully reversible structure that meets the necessary standard facilities for visitors including fully accessible toilets, sheltered tickets sales and a museum shop.

This project will be undertaken as a stop-gap solution for an ambitious and long-term project to conserve and stabilise the temples, create a permanent visitors' centre and a museum shop.

To this effect, Heritage Malta has already applied for funding from the EU's structural funds 2007-2013.

Heritage Malta considers Ggantija and other Unesco World Heritage Sites as top priority on its agenda, as the various ongoing works attest.