Labour to draw up plan to regenerate Grand Harbour

The Labour Party is embarking on consultations for its regional plan for the Grand Harbour, which it plans to publish towards the end of September.

The plan will cover Kalkara, Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Senglea, Marsa, Floriana, Valletta, Pietà, Ta' Xbiex, Msida, Gzira and Sliema.

The party is inviting all organisations involved in these localities to give their views and contributions. Consultations will be led by deputy leader Charles Mangion and the party's spokesman for roads, Charles Buhagiar.

Labour leader Alfred Sant said yesterday the Grand Harbour zone was Malta's best natural resource. Over the centuries it had served as a centre for economic and maritime matters, which gave life to the rest of the island. The social and cultural life of the area was the best in the country.

However, in recent years, it had lost its importance. Naval facilities had closed down, work at the shipyards lost ground, a lot of transhipment work was moved to the Freeport and tourism did not develop as expected, except in Valletta and Sliema.

Dr Sant said that while in 1957 there were 97,795 people living in the zone, there were now 72,785. In 1957 the people living in Grand Harbour amounted to 33.5 per cent of the population, now they only amounted to 19.5 per cent.

Labour believed that the time had come for the area to be given a new lease of life through economic and social regeneration. Other ports which had gone through the same process of change were those of Sydney, London and Liverpool.

Dr Sant said the plan would propose measures to generate a wide range of useful initiatives which would be economically and socially profitable.

The projects to be proposed would be suitable for the 21st century and should result in the Grand Harbour again becoming a major hub of activity.

Preferably, projects should be carried out in partnership between the public, private and cooperative sectors.