In his article regarding Fort St Elmo, Ray Bondin made the argument for promoting the fort as a cultural centre. I fully support the idea that one of the most suitable uses for Fort St Elmo is that for cultural purposes. It is definitely not enough to sporadically clean up the fort and even move the squatters out because, unless the fort is put to good use, it will continue to deteriorate.
As also mentioned by Dr Bondin, during the Labour administration 1996-1998, a development brief was proposed for Fort St Elmo. In this brief it is stated that the fort comprises approximately 20 per cent of the total land mass of the Valletta peninsula. It is thus a great shame that no particular use has been found for this fort and that it has been left to deteriorate over the years with squatters moving into it and using it for their own (sometimes unlawful) purposes.
The rehabilitation of Fort St Elmo is important because the regeneration of Valletta cannot be allowed to take place solely in the upper part of the city but has to spread across the entire length and breadth of the Valletta peninsula.
Indeed, in Labour's plan for the regeneration of the Grand Harbour it is proposed that a special axis be created joining Fort St Elmo to City Gate. This axis can be in the form of upgraded pedestrian walkways linking the two sides.
The Fort St Elmo area also includes the property known as Evans Building. This property occupies a prime location overlooking the entrance to the Grand Harbour and in my opinion the potential of this site is not being fully utilised with its present use. My suggestion would be that since Evans Building adjoins the Mediterranean Conference Centre then a more suitable use would be an up-market hotel which would cater for tourists who visit Malta either for business or cultural reasons.
St Elmo can be converted into a cultural village providing space for all types of cultural activities. The war museum can remain in its present location as can those who use parts of the fort to construct carnival floats. Indeed we consider carnival as also being part of our culture and so if these carnival enthusiasts are well organised and keep the place tidy then they can also be considered an attraction to tourists.
There should also be some sort of military presence in the fort to retain its original use.
This would be of importance in the eventuality that the police move out and so having a military presence might deter vandals and squatters. One could station the military band there and organise the "military tattoo" in the parade ground.
Other parts of the fort might be used as workshops and exhibition space for various artists and one would also consider the possibility of including some form of accommodation facilities especially for foreign artists. The conversion of Fort St Elmo for such uses as mentioned above would create a cultural village which would be another focal point for persons visiting Valletta.
In this manner Valletta would have three focal points of special interest, namely the commercial/cultural area in the centre of the city, the Waterfront and the Cultural Village.
Fort St Elmo has been abandoned in a state of total neglect for much too long.
The eventual use of the fort has to be determined by national consensus.
Once this use is determined then the government must act quickly to save this unique fortification from further deterioration.
Mr Buhagiar is Labour main spokesman on infrastructure and capital projects