St John’s Foundation urges public to have their say on proposed museum extension

Marco Cremona

Jan 11th 2009, 10:18

Part 2

Come on, Mgr. Calleja, do the Foundation, the Church and the people of Malta a favour and immediately pull out of this hole which you are digging at the taxpayers' expense.

Marco Cremona

Jan 11th 2009, 10:17

Part 1

Beats me how Mgr.Calleja continues to lend his name and reputation to such a scandalous project. It's not in the interest of the Church which he represents in the Foundation; it's certainly not in the interest of Valletta or the people of Malta; it's not even in the interest of the Foundation to be embroiled in such a controversy. In whose interest is it then? What's the real driving force behind this project?

Certainly, a very influential force because it is surprising how a Foundation with no track-record in EU-funded projects manages to receive a whopping Euro 14million?! Note these are not funds that the Foundation directly got from the EU; these are funds taken from Malta's allocation that would have otherwise gone to more worthy projects in Malta.

In this knowledge, Mgr.Calleja's attempt to 'popularise' the project by asking people to participate in this travesty of transparency is pathetic. I appeal to the public and genuine NGOs to boycott the EIA process - which is anyway a useless excercise and an extravagant waste of taxpayers' money in an to attempt to 'sell' the project to the public.

Raymond Sammut

Jan 11th 2009, 01:50

@ lesley kreupl

The only person still discussing this issue is Mgr Calleja.

I like to kindly ask Mgr Calleja to explain the difference between "the general public" and "civil society"?

D Camilleri

Jan 10th 2009, 21:36

The proposed museum extension is a big big mistake, what ever did you smoke to come up with such an idea ?

lesley kreupl

Jan 10th 2009, 20:55

I can't believe that people are still discussing this issue. It should surely be clear to all by now that the idea of digging up St. John's to make a hole in the damp ground to store precious tapestries in, was so stupid that it actually never even merited a discussion in the first place. Obviously the gentlemen who invisaged getting their hands on the millions of euros worth of restoration funds were either stoned out of their minds, pretty devious and greedy or just plain stupid!

Listen to what Astid Vella and the FAA say, listen to what the PEOPLE say!

MEPA, Mr. Walker, PM, Phillip Calleja, come down to earth and DO something before it is too late!

There is no point is having 'doctored' EIAs!

CDIMECH

Jan 10th 2009, 20:35

WHY DONT WE MAKE USE OF THE CO-CATHEDRAL ROOF ? AFTER ALL EVEN THE VATICAN HAD USED THIS SPACE. IF ITS A QUESTION OF LIGHT ENTERING THE INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL , THERE ARE OTHER ALTERNATIVES . UNDERGROUND IS JUST NON SENCE FOR THIS PROJECT. . MEPA ITS ON YOUR SHOULDER IF ANY DAMAGE IS CAUSED TO ST JOHN. HANDS OFF.

Joseph Borg

Jan 10th 2009, 19:46

You want my say?!
Just DON'T do it!

I cannot understand how MEPA is even considering such a project.

martha calleja

Jan 10th 2009, 19:26

don`t destroy 400 years of history! see what happend to the temple mount in jerusalem!

Antoinette Grech

Jan 10th 2009, 17:37

Just a note to say that the rooms that house the museum today were used as classrooms in the thirties. Back then it was a Girls' Secondary School there, and a prestigious one at that. Does anybody have any further info regarding this? Or maybe inform where I can do some research on that school. thanks My email - antoinette.grech@yahoo.com

malcolm seychell

Jan 10th 2009, 17:33

As if Mons Callejla cares what the public has to say.

The absolute majority are against this madness.

Astrid Vella

Jan 10th 2009, 17:26

Part 2

The alternatives proposed would use up only a fraction of the 16 million Euros to be spent on this project and leave enough over to restore both St. Elmo and St. Angelo, (estimated at roughly 2.5m Euros each). Restoring the forts would create new tourist attractions to draw tourists to Malta at a time when Malta needs to pull all the stops to attract tourists to our shores, would regenerate depressed areas and create jobs.

In this time of financial crisis, when workers are facing a bleak future it is the height of insensitivity of Government and Church to press on with this project. The Environment Impact Assessment alone will cost up to 40,000 euros, which added to the roughly 14,000 euros that have already been spent on publicising the project, should go to a project with a more tangible heritage or social benefit.

Astrid Vella

Jan 10th 2009, 17:23

Mgr Calleja keeps on repeating that the Foundation puts the interests of St. John's Co-Cathedral first, but what about the interests of all of Valletta; a Foundation that is made up of Church and State should be putting those first.

Are Valletta's residents, businesses and tourists best served by a development that will create a whole the size of a quarry, ripping up the newly-laid paving, damaging the underground passages and inflicting years of noise,dust,and heavy vehicles shaking Valletta's foundations for years?

Or is it better served by opening a branch of the Foundation at the Mediterranean Conference Centre where the tapestries can be viewed all together as the Foundation wants, but in knights' setting of world renown,rather than a sterile underground bunker.If the Foundation then still needs more exhibition space it should act with the corporate social responsibility that one has every right to expect from a Church/State establishment and convert one of the nearby old palaces into a museum for its other collections.

Other than the developers, exactly in who's interest is it to embark on such a massive and costly project rather than set up a branch of the Foundation across the road?

Antoine Sciberras

Jan 10th 2009, 17:18

so Phil, did I get it right? You want the future generations to blame "THE PUBLIC" for this outright blasphemy
How Holy.

s.bugeja

Jan 10th 2009, 17:02

Is this going to be another so called public consultation exercise similar to the ones about the education reform? We all know that these issues are fait accompli and the so called public consultations are only there so that we are led to believe that the public was given a chance to voice his thoughts. Well here is my opinion for what it's worth..LEAVE ST. JOHN"S ALONE.

Marco Cremona

Jan 10th 2009, 16:37

Why should the public participate in the preparation of the ToRs for the EIA when:

1) The EIA-regulations,2007 allow for the deveopers and MEPA to negotiate the ToRs behind closed doors such at that any suggestions put forward by the public and NGOs may be completely omitted from the ToRs- moreover the public will not get to know that his/her contributions would have been completely ignored until the EIA is complete and approved by MEPA;

2) The EIA-process is completely flawed and has an inherent bias in favour of the developer - for the simple reason that the consultants are appointed and paid for by the developer, and MEPA has conveniently failed to make a register of consultants- 14 years after this register was supposed to be compiled.

My advice to the public and genuine NGOs - don't waste time contributing to the ToRs; use your time to get the 2007 EIA regulations revoked.

Doesn't it make you wonder how every would-be developer is suddenly clamouring for EIAs (Mgr. Calleja for St. John's; Minister Austin Gatt for the Ghadira Road etc.)? Clearly these EIAs are doctored to suit the developer - a blatant waste of peoples' time and taxpayers' money.

James A. Tyrrell

Jan 10th 2009, 16:07

Well isn't that nice? The public are being urged to have their say on the proposed museum extension by the St John’s Foundation. I assume this is the same public who wouldn't have known anything was going to be done if the FAA hadn’t brought the matter to light?

Mgr Calleja refers to the independent Environment Impact Assessment (EIA). Is it in fact independent? If so can the public be informed who is paying for it? Or is it going to follow along the same lines 'independent EIA's' usually follow in Malta in that it will be bought and paid for by the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation in which case the outcome will be a forgone conclusion?

The impact that the proposed museum extension may have on the Co-Cathedral or its surrounding environment is pretty simple really and doesn't require an EIA to determine. The impact on the surrounding environment will be devastating for the people of Valletta. More to the point the possible impact on the Co-Cathedral could be even more devastating in that it could be damaged beyond repair.

Are the people going to stand by and allow this to happen or will good sense prevail?

lgalea

Jan 10th 2009, 15:53

Doesn't Mgr Calleja understand that the public has already come out en masse against their proposals?
So why do they keep pressing them?