Valletta project: FAA sees indifference to people's wishes

The environment NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) has criticised the governemnt's plans to build a Parliament at the City entrance as well as its plans for the Opera House site.

In the first part of a four-part reaction to Renzo Piano plans for Valletta's City Gate area, the group said aspects of the plans were worthy of merit.

It regretted, however, that many people were resigned to thinking that anything would be better than the present ugliness, for fear that government might withdraw its plans to improve the entrance to Valletta and to rebuild the Opera House site.

"This is an opportunity not to be missed and the country cannot afford to get it wrong again. FAA therefore invites the government to make public the brief since this would indicate the limitations imposed on the architect and what the government had requested of him," the NGO said.

It complained of "an utter lack of consultation and total indifference" to the wishes of the people who were repeatedly led to believe that the theatre would be rebuilt.

"In other countries major projects are handled differently, with project proposals being presented to the public in time for meaningful discussion to be held in order to avoid controversy upon presentation of the architect's project.

"The public wanted a theatre and the reconstruction of the City Gate area, it never asked for a new parliament. This idea was mooted some five years ago and dropped following a public outcry against the building of Parliament on the Opera House site.

"The Parliament building is now being foisted on the general public which will be paying for a parliament through its taxes at a time when Malta can ill afford a project of these dimensions, having just passed through the worst six months of the nation's economy. This project gives the impression that the Opera House site will be given a face lift because the bombed site ‘has acquired historical merit' however the emphasis of the brief given to Renzo Piano seems to have focussed on the Parliament building than on the theatre."

FAA said it had always maintained that plans should be presented holistically, an approach which is essential to the long-term success of any major Valletta project. The government had commissioned a Valletta management plan, a first draft of which was nearing publication. This plan, the NGO said, should be consulted before any decision is taken on a project of such magnitude.

"In view of the recent announcement that the St Elmo project is largely stalled for lack of funds, a study of alternative buildings available to accommodate Parliament would allow Government to save on a €40 million parliament project that has no touristic, employment or social regeneration benefit, and use a large part of those funds to realise lower Valletta's potential as a culture and heritage centre that would be the pride of any nation."