Valletta's World Heritage status

I refer to the report about a conference on Valletta as a World Heritage Site (The Sunday Times, April 15). Some facts need to be pointed out to balance the overall negative impression that this report gave.

Since its inception, MEPA was the only authority to undertake the updating of the inventory of important buildings in Valletta. This had been done once, in 1932. The Antiquities Protection List included only 34 monuments in Valletta. MEPA's inventory identified 110 buildings as the most significant.

Among other things, MEPA declared Valletta as an Urban Conservation Area, scheduled the fortifications, scheduled wooden shop fronts, designated Valletta as an Area of High Landscape Value, and is finalising the scheduling of the 110 most significant properties in Valletta.

MEPA also developed Structure Plan and Local Plan policies promoting conservation and directed compatible re-use of vacant buildings in Valletta. It also takes in hand enforcement actions, processing of applications requesting restoration method statements and their eventual monitoring, and, finally, contributed grants for the restoration of wooden balconies in Valletta.

Repeated mention in public has been made of a list at UNESCO containing 320 buildings of national importance in Valletta. Surprisingly, despite MEPA's requests and consultation, no one has ever forwarded the UNESCO list, not even UNESCO itself. Still, MEPA has lately made yet another attempt with UNESCO asking them for this list.

These are just a few of the more grievous elements in the report which, MEPA felt, needed to be redressed.