Planning Piano's project

Together with some other members of Parliament I had the opportunity to meet Renzo Piano and his partner during their visit to Malta. They explained to us their proposals for City Gate, Freedom Square and the site of the former opera house.

During the meeting I asked them what brief had been given to them by the government and they said they were asked to redevelop this area and include a Parliament building within the proposed development. The area in front of City Gate, that is, our chaotic bus terminus, was not included in their brief. The project value was set at €80 million and had to be completed within four years. In their opinion, the project budget was to be roughly divided in €20 million each for the development of City Gate and the site of the opera house and €40 million for the Parliament building.

I do not wish to comment on the design presented by Mr Piano but I would like to point out the implications of what is being proposed.

Mr Piano is suggesting that the existing road above City Gate is removed. This necessarily entails a new traffic circulation system in Valletta because this particular road is the only one that leads to the centre of Valletta.

In this regard, it is being proposed that vehicles bound for the centre of Valletta drive through St Mark Street in the Marsamxetto area.

St Mark Street is one of the narrow streets in Valletta and is located within a residential area. This road is so narrow that large vehicles cannot pass through it. Indeed, it even lacks sidewalks as a consequence of which one immediately walks onto the road when exiting a building. Furthermore, the capacity this road can handle is limited and so its intensive use is bound to cause traffic congestion problems.

The proposal obviously entails the removal of all parking from the opera house site and also the removal of all parking spaces in Freedom Square, Yellow Garage and the underlying ditch. Combined with the removal of the existing parking spaces in St George's Square, this would mean that a very high percentage of the 2,000 parking spaces reserved for visitors within Valletta are to be removed.

These two issues - the proposed new traffic circulation system and the drastically-reduced car parking facilities - will lead to serious accessibility problems in Valletta. These problems will affect not only all those who work in Valletta but also the shops, restaurants, entertainment centres, etc., which depend on people visiting the capital. Furthermore, it will also affect Valletta residents because the traffic circulation routes are being pushed into residential areas.

In my opinion, this situation has occurred because the government is insisting on implementing projects in a piecemeal fashion.

What should have been done is to prepare a master plan for Valletta and its immediate surroundings, which master plan could have included the various initiatives described in the vision for the regeneration of Grand Harbour by the two main political parties.

This master plan could then have been presented for public consultation and amended or, if need be, include new projects accordingly. The final master plan would be the result of general consensus and would have ensured that all future governments carry out projects in Valletta in line with this master plan.

Such an approach would have immediately identified such problems as the traffic circulation problems mentioned above and would have recommended alternative modes of transport. It would also have avoided the situation whereby, if this project is implemented as proposed, one would need to walk through the chaotic bus terminus to reach the new City Gate.

My suggestion is that, before proceeding any further with this project, the government would give due consideration to the implications of what is being proposed including the impact of this project on the tenants of the shops beneath the opera house and around Freedom Square. The government must then ensure that, concurrently with the implementation of the project, a series of initiatives are taken to address the impact and implications of the proposed works.

Mr Buhagiar, an architect by profession and a member of Parliament, is the Labour Party's main spokesman on the infrastructure and capital projects.

www.peritcharlesbuhagiar.com.mt