PM to meet Piano today

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will today be discussing the final details on the Valletta entrance €80 million project with world-renowned architect Renzo Piano during a meeting at Mr Piano's building workshop in Paris.

Dr Gonzi flew to Paris following yesterday's summit in Brussels, for today's meeting. Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt will accompany Dr Gonzi.

Sources told The Times that Mr Piano is expected to show Dr Gonzi the final scale models of the project, including some changes to the original plans requested by the government following various consultations.

"We are going to see the final plans so that we can get the ball rolling," Dr Gonzi told The Times in an enthusiastic tone.

Asked to specify when physical works on the project are expected to start, Dr Gonzi did not want to give a precise time-frame as he said that this depends on Mepa's decision to grant the necessary permits.

"We hope that work can start in just a few weeks time but we need Mepa's permits first," he said.

Renzo Piano's Valletta project will change the whole entrance of Malta's capital city and will also include the building of a new seat for Parliament and an open-air theatre on the remains of the Old Valletta theatre destroyed more than 60 years ago during World War II.

Originally it was said that the project should be completed by the end of the current legislature in 2013.