What a sigh of relief!

What a sigh of relief!

That was the expression of an elderly woman who welcomed me this morning when I visited St Anne Square, Sliema. From the comments and feedback I received, it is evident that the embellishment works have been well received and those who had waited for this development have now been satisfied. It was a common wish that this square is given back to the people and the community.

During yesterday evening's inauguration ceremony, I had the opportunity to express my pleasure, and of those who grew up in Sliema, in seeing this square embellished and regenerated and which will now serve as a meeting and relaxing place for all Sliema residents and for the other thousands who visit this second-most important commercial centre in Malta.

It took us perseverance and sheer determination to see our ambition fulfilled. I had personally requested, way back in 2005, the Government Property Division not to renew the ground rent, once this expired, on the establishment that occupied the square for the past 30 years. In this regard, I have to commend Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi whose determination finally saw us achieve our goal.

This project, which was completed before the scheduled timeframes, has cost €250,000 The most striking element is the water feature, since water symbolises life and has been incorporated since the square used to have a monument that commemorated the arrival of the water services in Sliema in 1882. I enjoyed watching children splashing around this morning but I prefer not to think on what their mothers were commenting!

A similar water feature, albeit on a larger scale, will be incorporated in the embellishment project of our main square, St George's Square in Valletta. Now that St Anne's Square is ready, our efforts will be directed towards the completion of this other ambitious embellishment project, which will commence this Monday after the commemoration of Sette Giugno - June 4, 2009.

It will pay you

During this week's debate in Parliament regarding reforms in local councils, I stressed that local councils need to become more committed towards environmental efforts by offering incentives to residents who take the initiative to separate their waste. It is a shame that almost six years after the introduction of Bring-In Sites by the government there are still a number of local councils that have not yet introduced a sufficient number of such sites as effectively required by their locality.

The public is constantly showing signs of cooperation with the government on such initiatives, so much so that the tonnage of collected waste that has been separated at source during 2008 was three times that collected in 2007. This is very encouraging and I wish to show my gratitude to all those contributing towards this collective effort. This is precisely why local councils should take the responsibility of arranging for enough bring-in sites to be available in their area of jurisdiction.

Among the list of localities that have not yet offered their residents an adequate number of Bring-In Sites one finds a considerable number of local councils whose majority comes from the Labour Party.

On the other hand, one finds proficient councils, such as the one in Birkirkara, that only this week signed an agreement that will increase the number of bring-in sites from the present seven to the required 17 that will see to the locality's needs more effectively. The agreement also includes another day during which separated waste shall be collected. This is the type of commitment we wish to see emulated by other local councils.

Local councils have to be given the incentive to separate more waste. Therefore, the gate fee for non-separated waste shall be 10 times higher than that of the separated waste. In this way those local councils that reduce their mixed waste will benefit as a locality because this scheme will enable them to use the monies saved on projects within their community - June 3, 2009.

Slow food

Yesterday evening I had quite an interesting experience. I attended a "peasant meal of the 1830s" organised by the Slow Food Malta at the Institute for Tourism Studies. The Slow Food Malta forms part of the Slow Food international movement and aims to promote fresh local produce and traditional dishes. This evening was organised together with the Centre of Cultural and Heritage Studies chaired by Reggie Abela.

The traditional dishes were prepared with ingredients that the communities of the early 19th century made use of. Unfortunately, some of these dishes are inexistent. One of these is il-ħobż tal-maħlut, brown bread made of a variety of cereals.

The research on the cooking methods was carried out by Carmel Cassar, who gave an excellent presentation on his findings. He was accompanied by Noel Buttigieg and other members of the Slow Food Malta and ITS lecturers. The food was deliciously prepared by ITS students themselves!

Yesterday's meal made us appreciate much more the work done by this institute but, above all, our traditional local cuisine. Unfortunately, this traditional cuisine is not always exposed in some local restaurants. This is a pity because our local produce and cuisine also form part of our culture! - May 28, 2009.

Mr Pullicino is Minister of resources and Rural Affairs.

georgepullicino.blogspot.com