The best place for Parliament

Among the many letters regarding the opera house were two in the January 8 issue. My reactions to both of them are that I beg to differ.

The first letter by Stefan Gauci Scicluna of Siġġiewi is all about a suitable place for Parliament (A Better Working Place For Parliament Needed). I concur, but not at the opera house site. Way back in the 1960s, the Main Guard site had already been earmarked for such a purpose. All the derelict buildings butting on Strait Street were served with acquisition orders. The building facing the Palace is the best and most prestigious site.

In the second letter under the same headline, Ray Azzopardi of Swieqi wants everyone to agree with him. How about he uses his maxim and agrees with everybody else? So according to him we do not need a theatre but we need a fancy Parliament building by Renzo Piano because tourists from all over the world will besiege Malta. How naïve can you be?

He also imagines walking down to St Elmo. Does he also imagine walking back up again? He will be even more proud to take visitors and friends to see two buildings, namely a proper National Theatre and a proper House of Parliament facing the grand Palace.

What is the better choice? Ruin once and for all the possibility of having our grand opera house or while we join other worldwide cities we could also have a proper Parliament building by utilising a derelict, slum area within a few paces from the Palace?

Valletta is not a single site. Does a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the city as whole, revamp and rehabilitate all the old buildings exist?

Who instigated this idea for the opera house site? I have been assured it was not the Prime Minister himself but some anonymous know-alls who are privileged to have his ears.

Malta is built on hatred and spite! I will once again ask: Who will gain financially or otherwise from a new Piano design?