An upgrade of the Tarxien Temples' site has not yet got off the ground five years after the project was launched, first due to planning bureaucracy and now because of money shortages.
The visitors' centre, a fundamental part of the project, was scheduled to be opened last year but construction has not even started yet.
Permits from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage were finally in hand last year but the project has not advanced since due to funding shortages.
"The Tarxien Temples are not Heritage Malta's only project and its pot of money is limited. Each one is important; each one needs to get done; but not at the same time," Heritage Malta CEO Luciano Mule' Stagno said when asked about the delays.
He said works should start by the beginning of next year and the visitors' centre should be ready by early to mid-2011.
However, it is not the first time deadlines were announced. Five years ago, it was said that the project would take eight years to complete. The goal was to make the prehistoric remains more accessible and preserve them better.
Back then, Bank of Valletta had committed €442,580 over a 10-year period but the money has yet to be spent.
The bank and Heritage Malta are still committed to the project and BOV's funding has been deposited into a dedicated account, according to Dr Mule' Stagno.
But the money only covers part of the costs and the rest has been hard to come by.
"I depend on the government for capital funds," he said. The heritage agency is in the process of discussing next year's budget and he hopes the temples will be taken into account.
By January 2006, the visitors' centre was awaiting approval from the planning authority and works were expected to start by the end of the year.
At the time, it was said that, overall, the project was expected to run into a cost of €1.4 million, which, excluding the BOV funding, would be accessed from EU Structural Funds.
Eventually, however, new "features" were found around the site, and this meant the project had to be redesigned around them, causing more delays.
The permit then "dragged on" and had been suspended as the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had to conduct investigations to determine whether any archaeological remains were located within the footprint of the proposed visitors' centre.
Eventually, it was approved in March, 2008.
Separately from the visitors' centre, in October last year a €2.2 million project to erect a protective shelter over the temples, which date back to 3,600 BC, was approved by the EU's ERDF.