Castille Place trees removal may be shelved

Opposition to the proposed removal of trees and Manuel Dimech's monument from Castille Place in Valletta continued to mount yesterday even if a spokesman for the Infrastructure Ministry said that the conceptual drawings have still not been approved.

Sources have told The Sunday Times that the controversial proposal to eliminate the few trees from the heart of Valletta is likely to be shelved.

During a symbolic protest yesterday, the Graffitti pressure group said the proposal to eliminate the trees was another episode of the "destroy and construct" rationale adopted by the government and developers.

Graffitti spokesman Chris Cutajar also said that the removal of patriot Manwel Dimech's monument was a way of erasing import-ant Maltese historical characters from our memories.

The designs made public over a month ago were generally met with a chorus of disapproval, with a recent online poll by The Times showing a large majority of the respondents do not want the trees removed from Castille Place.

A spokesman from the Infrastructure Ministry said that, so far, two pedestrian areas have been earmarked for embellishment as shown in the Master Plan. Work on St John's Square in front of the Co-Cathedral will start next month or in October and could be completed by December.

Once that is completed, pedes-trianisation works on Merchants Street will start, and eventually work will start on St George's Square and Castille Square, which will also include the restoration of the prime minister's building.

"All proposed pedestrian areas still have to be fine-tuned and examined in detail. Therefore it is just futile to speculate and criticise proposed conceptual drawings that have not yet been approved with regard to pavement detail, landscaping, garden furniture, and so on," the spokesman said.

However, he insisted that something has to be done around Castille Place since no fewer than 17 different paving materials are currently in place.