Vittoriosa watchtower (3)

May I congratulate Dr Ray Bondin as well as all those involved, mainly the Vittoriosa mayor and his council in the Cottonera Rehabilitation Project. Their achievements through their many laudable projects are indeed impressive. These have greatly benefited Vittoriosa and its historical and touristic value.

However, I am afraid I cannot praise them for the very dubious project of building a clock tower right in the middle of Vittoriosa square.

May I express what I see as serious and grave objections to this 'project' that I have communicated to the mayor (from whom I am still awaiting some sort of reply).

History is not honoured by half-baked replicas recreated from scratch. Conservation of monuments is not equivalent to the building of new fake replicas.

The identity and character of any locality go well beyond the external or superficial 'recreation' of material buildings that may have characterised it in the past. Resurrecting destroyed buildings will not contribute to this identity.

The central Vittoriosa square is the lung that breathes life into the social and cultural life of the locals. Stifling it with a nostalgic excrescence will take away the precious remaining space where the locals can come together to celebrate, rejoice, enjoy artistic and cultural events, express their faith and beliefs or simply buy their bread and fish.

The clock tower will transform the space into an artificial show-space for passing tourists at the expense of the social and cultural well-being of the local population.

Who is going to benefit from this construction in the end? Is it the residents or the few individuals who will be better placed to make more money from tourists? Where are our priorities? What comes first: is it finances or the quality of life of our people?

More important than money, the people of Vittoriosa need ways of strengthening the sense of community and solidarity among themselves, a greater sense of respect for their deeper needs and a tradition that gives life to the present rather than an exploitation of the past that kills the present. They are still awaiting the individual consultation they had been promised on this project.

This idea has all the characteristics of yet another commercially motivated project so many of which are destroying our tiny country. It will bring in more money (perhaps!) but will sap the life and soul of our people.

When community leaders and guardians of our heritage begin to adopt the values and attitudes of developers, our people and our country are inevitably condemned to become commodities offered for foreign and local consumption. No wonder our dear Malta is fast losing its soul!

May those who have ears listen.