Solid vision needed for rehabilitation of Valletta

It was very discouraging to hear the minister's speech to the new rehabilitation committees and to read the interview of the new chairman that appeared in The Times, saying that the priority for the new committees is the pavements of Valletta! Regeneration and rehabilitation is certainly much more than doing up the pavements of the city; the problems, both in the field of the environment and in the conservation of its monuments, are endless.

I wish to stop a myth that has been going round for the past three years based on a report submitted by the ex-Mayor of Valletta to the Prime Minister. The report stated that there are at least 11 different materials in the pavements of Valletta.

It is well known to everyone that the original pavements were in hard stone or lava (with variations as all natural material varies). The only other element introduced in the past 20 years by the Valletta Rehabilitation Project is porfido. The VRP had always insisted that only natural paving should be used (and indeed this rule was later adopted by Mepa for UCA areas). Some temporary paving was done in concrete (but only up to 1992) and the council itself in the little paving it laid down used concrete or another material. VRP always objected to Mepa when a request was made for the use of other materials except hard stone, lava and porfido.

VRP restored an endless number of pavements which I will list if requested to. It certainly did not "tamper" with the original paving.

It is certainly positive to have a masterplan: this was commissioned two years ago when I was still responsible at VRP. (Contrary to what is stated by the new coordinator, he has only been there one year and not two). But Valletta desperately needs a management plan, as I insisted endlessly with ministers. It is also positive to have all the pavements mapped, something which had already been started. A paving master plan for the whole pedestrian area (that already in place and that which is planned) had already been finalised.

The new chairman was quoted as saying that "the committees worked individually". This is not correct. I was the executive coordinator of the projects and the secretary of the three committees. The three worked very much hand in hand and were administered by one office and two technical offices. I have written in a number of memos that there should be one rehabilitation committee, but this does not mean that they did not follow the same principles and did not collaborate.

Valletta needs a vision for the future. We need to ensure that the restoration projects that were started are finalised. We need to ensure that the committee continues to be a coordinating body for all that happens in Valletta. Pavements are just one very small element of what needs to be done (and in any case they are the responsibility of the local council and not the committee).

In spite of a tremendous effort in 20 years there is still so much to be done to bring Valletta up to the standard of a World Heritage Site.

Dr Bondin was executive coordinator of the Valletta Rehabilitation Projects up to August last year.