Local council seeks EU funds

The Valletta local council has submitted an application for EU funding for a project that aims to improve tourist mobility in the capital by upgrading six major streets and creating five internodal pedestrian city links from the Marsamxett area to the Grand Harbour area.

Funding for the €1,600,000 (Lm686,880) project, entitled Re-Moving Valletta: Sustainable Tourism Through Mobility, is being sought within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund under the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 Operational Programme I.

"The project links the core area of Valletta to the outer areas of the city that are equally important, making of Valletta a true walking experience, as it should be," Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier told The Times.

Valletta attracts more than 1.2 million tourists a year, which is why the project intends to boost its overall image while improving the tourist product. This will be done through five internodal city pedestrian links: From the cruise liner terminal to the Marsamxett ferry link through the upgrade of Ta' Liesse and St John's Street; from the Marsamxett fortification front to the Lower Barrakka Grand Harbour fortification front all through St Christopher Street; between St Paul's Anglican Cathedral to the Magisterial Palace via the national theatre; from the lower part of Valletta, St Elmo and the Sacra Infermeria, through St Nicholas Street into the core area of the city; from St Andrew's Bastions to the Upper Barrakka via the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Auberge de Castile.

The project includes the reconstruction of pavements, roads and signage, with the specific aim of evenly distributing the tourist flow to the centre, and from the centre to other areas. It has the added value of improving the quality of life of the residents and offers an opportunity in the creation of new jobs through the encouragement of local community entrepreneurship on the identified pedestrian links causing a direct economic spin-off, the local council said.

Dr Borg Olivier said the project was vital for Valletta as Malta's capital and a world heritage site.

"Valletta is one big historical centre and must be harmonious in this respect. Accessibility is a major issue for the city as an open-air museum. Re-Moving Valletta is a sweet pun. It focuses on the need of improved pavements to get tourists on the move and explore all of Valletta.

"The infrastructure is essential as it eases people to move freely from one important site to another and not to be contained in the centre. Without this infrastructure, a big piece of our heritage is being lost," the mayor said.