Punic-Roman ‘cemetery’ halts hospital project

By judging the Video pictures, another big CHUNK of prime arable land has gone under the AXE. From what I gather, THIS LAND was ODZ (Outside Dev. Zone). !! Practically no information about this Project had been disclosed. Had to be these PUNIC TOMBS for IT to hit the Headlines! It's location seems quite far from the residential area, thus putting in doubt, whether it is in the limits of Tarxien or Zejtun (quoting Mr. T Abela ) . This land should be reclaimed for Agriculture ,particularly vine growing ,as the trenches suggest. The tomb areas fenced off and sheltered / protected from rain-water. An alternative site ,possibly useless unproductive land, closer to any of the towns or villages in this Southern Area must be given as compensation to Dr. Muscat. An ideal site ,for this hospital, is close or even adjacent to DAR L-ANZJANI in Zejtun which is one of the largest, if not the largest , HOME in Malta.

Semmejt l-agunija ta' sittin sena ma nistgħux niddeċiedu fejn ser jitla' tijatru nazzjonali. Għalija, xewka oħra fil-kustat inħossha meta nisma' il-Malti mfarrak minn nies li nistenna xi haġa aħjar minnhom bħala nies ta' professjoni. Skużawni l-iżbalji imma jien nikteb u nibgħat,nikteb u nibgħat. Ma għandix edituri.

It-tabib Muscat għandi kull dritt li jagħżel il-ħolm li jagħti valur lill-ħajjtu. L-esperjenza għallmitni li kultant il-ħholm u l-fantasiji aħjar jibqgħu fil-qasam tal-ħolm (bl-Ingliż, be careful what you pray for). Għaldaqstant, spiss m'hemm xejn ħażin li ħolma nqegħduha fuq l-ixkaffa sakemm ħsibijietna jiċċara. Jekk hemm il-biża' li jintilef l-interess, jista' jkun ukoll li l-interess ma kellux mertu jitwieled mill-bidu. Mhux sew li teqred il-patrimonju ta' pajjiż/pajjiżek sempliċiment ghaliex għandek 'lok artab' għal post jew għal nies.
Din hija ossessjoni Maltija. Bħal meta hemm lok pitturesk - beauty spot - u kulħadd irid jibni u joqgħod hemm. Saħħa 'beauty spot'. Jew l-ossessjoni li jinbena tijatru fuq is-sit tat-tijatru Rjal. Agunija tul sittin sena. It-tijatru jistgħu jibnuh x'imkien ieħor. Dak kollu (sakemm ma jinstabux oqbra, 'hemmx għalfejn ngħid).

Is Josie Muscat a politician? Is he endearing himself for votes? And self-aggrandisement? And status? And laughing all the way to the bank? Malta has a brand new state-of-the-art hospital in Mater Dei. And many others. This is a tiny island (but important) where distances are short. Getting to a hospital is not a big deal (we would all like a hospital on the doorstep I am sure). Projects are not etched in stone (choice of words intended). They can be shelved. And soft spots can be relegated to the boudoir where they belong.
The tragedy that are these sites (in Malta, particularly) is that tombs are seen as mere holes in the ground. And such holes are to be filled in. Unless, of course, they happen in the middle of roads in which case they can be left gaping. Which granted, could make getting to a hospital in time a bit hazardous.
And while I am here, the tourist product needs to be taken seriously if it is to continue being worth anything at all.

My opinion is that these kind of remains are considered as SACRED and UNTOUCHABLE whenever they are discovered. Owners are to be compensated by alternative satisfactory land elsewhere. these are common precious heritage of all of us ( not maltese only) and for the future generations. and no joke courtyard solutions please!! we now know what (some)developers are capable of.

I'm with Neville, Modern and Ancient buildings need to live together. I would intensionally injure myself just to see those tombs! LOL! Seriously, the hospital could be built over the tombs while allowing visitors to the cemetry.

Grant.

I remember a time during the eighties, that in the Santa Marhgerita Area, the local government of that time, destroyed both Punic Graves and Cart Ruts. For many in business its far better to make money rather to preserve our anectors historic remains, both for our enjoyment and for the coming generations. We should be very serious in looking after our historical artifacts and places of interest, for without them we dont have a solid culture like many nations around the world, that take care of there monuments, such as Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. Presevation rather than Destruction !

@ Sandro Borg

All Dr Muscat is saying is that the authorities had to stop the project, without being able to provide him with closure. So in a sense he has found himself in limbo. The "obstacle" is due to the waiting time caused by the archeologists, who need to verify before they can get back to him with the final verdict about the site, rather than the ancient tombs themselves.

This is a personal matter to him which he needs to resolve, and has nothing to do with the tenets of his party. After all, it's a hospital for the locals he wants to build, and not some sort of a nightclub that the locals can do without.

The hospital should be build ASAP, in further this generates some more employments.
The tombs should be involved as an attraction in the project of the hospital (like Dolmen Hotel), obviously financed by the company of Dr Muscat. If this project will be stopped every think remains the same, not because we don’t have interested and professional persons, because of financial problems. Just have a look to the tombs and catacombs at Salini unknown for most and all abandoned.

I believe both Dr Muscat and Dr Cassar's views can be reconciled. I believe that a hospital can still be built, making use of these tombs in some sort of piazza or something of the sort, which is, ideally fairly easily accessible to the public. Take the example of the Grange City Hotel in Tower Hill, London, which has been allowed to incorporate a Roman wall into its premises.

@ Sandro Borg

I am no fan of Josie Muscat but can you not be fair for a change?

Dr. Muscat's comment you quoted, "huma ostaklu kbir" was taken out of context. If you listen to the clip again, you will realize that he was referring to the finds as 'a huge obstacle' to his project. How else would you have felt if you had plans in place only to have it grind to a halt because of a previously unknown snag?

What has that to do with patriotism?

For correctness sake, the site in question is in the limits of Zejtun and not Tarxien as some sections of the media has reported.

In my opinion these should be conserved and should be used to promote tourism even in the southern area, in the meantime if the area is not that large, it could be serve as a courtyard for Josie's Muscat Hospital. Thus having both a hospital and a Heritage site (please do not give the site to heritage malta since they are a total disaster)

Judging from his speeches before the election, one would have thought that Josie was a patriot for whom Maltese culture and heritage came first and foremost. His comments that these archaeological finds "huma ostaklu kbir" are jarring indeed! His patriotic zeal does seem to have specific parameters.

How do the authorities reconcile the spending of millions of Euros in tourists promotion ,while leaving many a historical heritage site neglected eg. Fort St Angelo, the catacombs at Targa Gap and those by the Xarolla windmill at Zurrieq?. How do the authorites reconcile the spending of millions of euros in tourist promotion, with the monstrosity of the so called visitors' centre in the proximity of Hagar Qim? Why not invest more in the long term, that is in the product ?

What is the big deal of having a construction next to a heritage site.

Have you been recently next to the Hagar Qim temples?

They managed to do a disaster and turned the 5000 years old temples into a rolercoster and what about the visitor centre next to the temples.

Does anybody realise that this area has been marked as a site of Roman Remains for years?

The Authorities, especially MEPA new of this possibility well before they processed the Application for Development. Who ever gave the permit or who did not draw the attention of this before the permit was even considered should answer.

None the less, I think this project should not go on at this site as it is a heritage site which belongs to all future genrations.

I wonder if these tombs have anything in common with the findings of Xewkija (on the site where Enenmalta is building its Gozo Headquarters). But than Enemalta is not Dr. Muscat and it went on building and ruining what was found. In fact one of the ‘tombs’ was buried under a structure of concrete “to be preserved”, another was totally smashed and the others are waiting for their destiny

This is one reason why the project should not go on. The other is that the site is outside development zone. Govt makes laws to be broken by numerous concessions. Tal mickey mouse .

@Alex

And the cuckoos came to roost? :)

x-ray land and elevate the hospital on piles (Angelo Xuereb, Dr Josie Muscat college for sure have a good solution, as he is an expert on construction) , this will serve as a shelter for the Punic Roman tombs.
The other solution is leave it as it is, getting flooded with rain water, and in few days these will become abandon like does found in Mosta (Targa Gap Area) 3 years ago.

Punic sites cover the South, since the Carthaginians buried their dead in this region.
Malta's governments in the past have neglected such heritage places and now we want to preserve everything we already destroyed.
The MEPA is not a serious entity for if it was, it would have a team of archaeologists associated with them and decide for developers prior to development.
Much has already been lost, but Malta is littered with underground cemeteries and Hypogeums still intact.
Malta in fact is the oldest place on earth that can boast with so many artifacts and ancient relics, that once we in the future start building sky scrapers and start demolishing the rest, we will discover the unimanigable.
Malta goes back to the time of Atlas, where the Sacred Island was much larger and extended close to Libya, where most ancient Hyborean temples were scattered on the highest peaks of the island.
The rest of it was extremely flat and fertile, which is where the huge rings to form the city of Atlantis lay.
Unfortunately 9700years ago the island went through a heavy series of sea tremors and what is left today are the remnants of this once great sacred island.

Malta u Ghawdex mimlijin oqrba Punici u Rumani. Kollha ghandhom jigu mharsa. Izda ma hawnx ghalfejn jieqaf il-progett, basta jitharsu u l-access ghalihom jibqa' dejjem miftuh ghal l-istudjuzi u f'xi kazi ghal kulhadd. Bizzejjed wiehed jara x'sar bit-tempju megalitiku li qieghed f'nofs il-lukanda Dolmen, ghad li ma jienx nghid li ghandna naghmlu kull ma sar hemmekk ghax ma hafna milli sar ma naqbilx. Hsieb li jigini f'rasi meta nisma' bil-bini ta' dawn l-isptarijiet privati kollha: "Xi hadd sema' li s-servizz tas-sahha ser jigi privatizzat?"

@ g scerri

Do you expect the government or private land owner to dig the land up before selling it, just in case?

That would do wonders to the price of land!

I sympathize with Dr. Josie Muscat and some alternate arrangement should be sought, but sealing the tombs and proceeding with the project is out of the question.

I believe this was government land. Does the Land Department sell land without adequately knowing what it contains, especially in an area known for it archaeological value? Of course our heritage must be preserved but leaving it to the private developer to tell the govt what he has come across (at his expense) and then the Department happily claims back the land which has been thoroughly explored is hardly a modern way of doing business.

Make an example of this case and provide adequate compensation. At the end of the day everyone will benefit.

@Paul Caruana
How can one build a hospital on an archaeological site without disturbing it?One cannot just start building up. Foundations need to be dug and perhaps underground parking or whatever which means the destruction of the tombs.

Paul Caruana
Are you a developer by any chance?

Let us not get carried away. As has been done in similar circumstances, the site should be properly studied and documented over the next few months, then resealed. Development may then continue, ensuring at the same time that the structure is not in any way damaged.

The tarxien/zejtun area is replete with archaeological remains most of them unfortunately buried under buildings.(God only knows what has been destroyed during the building of the industrial estate) now we have a chance to preserve what is left. Dr. Muscat is to be commended when he stated that he is ready to suspend his project if the area is declared as worth preserving. likewise, Dr. Cassar deserves praise for his unending work towards Malta's heritage. let's pray that financial gain does not override the love for our past and the site is preserved for future generations.

After the finding of this Punic Roman Cemetry, MEPA should revoke further permits to develope this area, which will be an important site. I am sure if they continue to it will ruin this important findings. I am sure that in the days to come more findings will be discovered. Prim Minister Gonzi is responsible for MEPA and we are eager to here his opinion and act immediately to stop this project. May he stand up to be counted and show that he is the TRUE Prime Minister and no other person residing in DAR MALTA FI BRUSSELL.

I agree with Magistrate Joe Cassar.
Preserve the area not only for us Maltese citizens but also as a tourist attraction.
MEPA, let's see how much you have conservation of our archeological heritage at heart.

Building a hospital on top of ready made tombs sound just a bit too much towards an eco-friendly measure. If this goes ahead, the hearse drivers will probably go out on strike through unfair competition.
(Just joking).