Government urged to go ahead with City Gate project

Mike Magri

Mar 11th 2010, 11:59

Sinjuri tal-Valletta Alive Foundation.... I can assure you all that if this DISASTROUS Piano`s Plan for our beloved Capital City is STUBORNLY IMPLIMENTED on us, this would surely be the Greatest Shamefull Mistake done to our City and its Cultural History and none the less `ALIVE`r..!! Also i am more than sure that our children and children`s children will CONDEMN US ALL for such a `Strange` and `Stupid` inheritance.. Who wants a `Tennis Court` Shaped Theatre.. A Parlament building next to it, ruining an open space upon entering the City, and a `Scar` in our Historical Bastions as an entrance into Valletta........ THE ..V.A.S.T.. MAJORITY IS AGAINST ALL THIS `IMMAGINATIVE` PIANO`S PLANS... OUR CHILDREN DESERVE AND EXPECTS MUCH MORE FROM US....... PERIOD...

P. Bonello

Mar 10th 2010, 20:48

We've been waiting 60 years for somebody to clear the opera house site and build something worthy of Valletta. We've been waiting sixty years for the removal of that ghastly scar at the entrance of our capital city; and then Renzo comes along and proposes to immortalize our procrastination for future generations. He must be laughing all the way to the bank.

smifsud

Mar 10th 2010, 16:26

@Joseph Cauchi ......ok so the 80% of the people that are against this plan is just a few huh?........

lgalea

Mar 10th 2010, 16:06

Anne Marie Kissaun St Georges Square looks like something from a space visitors film with those ultra-modern lights in an old fortified city built by gentlemen for gentlemen.

myriam warrington

Mar 10th 2010, 15:55

So we don't have enough funds, but yet we are to go ahead with an expensive project just to get it over and done with?! I would much rather leave things as they are rather than make a very expensive mistake! As I have already suggested, flatten out the whole area and build a great piazza similar to St. George's with more greenery and a plaque by the ex-opera house site denoting its former grandeur and a reminder of the horrors of war. Piano's plans for the opera house are ridiculous and impractical anyway. Besides we need a bigger site than the former building for modern needs.City gate might need to be re-designed, using a stone, not marble structure Spend the funds by taking up Sir Cameron Macintosh's offer to transform MCC into a decent West-end style opera house improving acoustics etc, and restore St. Elmo from the shambles that it is and use that for Parliament. It will save the country lots of money in the long run, and it will be a wiser decision. Why have more buildings, when our prestigious old ones are badly in need of restoration anyway?

lgalea

Mar 10th 2010, 15:14

Valletta Alive Foundation, I expect YOUR MEMBERS to put your money where your mouth is and pay for the project.

ASpiteri

Mar 10th 2010, 14:58

@Joe Cassar

This is what Din L-Art Helwa is all about...or at least...these are the property they managed to secure form the government...

http://www.dinlarthelwa.org/content/category/5/29/55/

renald williams

Mar 10th 2010, 14:37

agree with following previous comments! peace and health...

''Any chance of knowing where and when it is planned that the Sette Guigno 1917,Monument will be taken back Valletta to a suitable location it rightly deserves ?''

''...save the road on top... ''

''I fully agree that the Valletta Project should go ahead sooner rather than later, but only, if the Opera House should be rebuilt in its original state and that Parliament House should find another niche in Valletta. City Gate should be given its original entrance with some changes of course and that Freedom Square should be given a face lift...enhanced with fountains ''

J Martinelli

Mar 10th 2010, 14:16

@ Joseph M. Scicluna

We should move forward not backwards! There is no contradiction in VAF's statement. Heaven knows that one cannot possibly please everybody in everything all the time and if there are some features which are disputable, they should not delay/stop the whole project. Besides, most nay-sayers do not have the capacity to visualize the completed project which has been designed by a world famous architect!

Mr.Piano would naturally refuse to design and build something bearing his signature and which ends up embarrassing him.

Yes it is time, about time that Valletta's entrance be cleaned up giving our capital city the entrance it deserves, an entrance, not influenced by designs of past colonial masters but one which is in conformity with the Knights' idea of building a city by gentlemen for gentlemen. Let's get on with it!

Joseph M. Scicluna

Mar 10th 2010, 13:52

"The foundation said that although there may be aspects of the proposed project with which it disagrees, it supported the government decision and urged the government to implement it." By this statement, the VAF is contrdicting itself. If there are some negative aspects , the VAF should air the reasons for an necessary any rectification . However, putting an ultra modern structure in a Baroque City is a mere sacrilege. So what about reverting to the original pre-war building, especially that of the external of the ex-Royal Opera House. Let us stick to the originality of the Porta Reale and let the stairways flanking the main Valletta Gate be reinstated.

joe gatt

Mar 10th 2010, 13:21

And the woman said to her husband, he had just been laid off, had also hefty bills to settle, ( I need to buy that nice dishwasher I just saw at the neighbour`s), and he said to her, ( is lunch ready, me and the kids are hungry) the wife was suddenly very quiet, thinking to herself, (I need to get some pastizzi & Maltese sausages, that will do nicely, need to save for that gorgeous dishwasher) Money talks, pity, but it does`nt grow on trees either.
I have a suggestion to make, I think it`s brilliant. Why don`t we borrow it from our future generations, I am sure they will gladly pay, and I hear no complaints!

A A Muscat

Mar 10th 2010, 13:16

To date the Old Opera House site has been the subject of most of the polemic raised by this Project. This has really surprised me as no one seems to be particularly concerned how the Project in its entirety permanently alters vehicular access into and out of Valletta. Some have expressed worry that there will be a drastic reduction in the number of parking spaces within the City but practically no one has highligthened the fact that if the road running on top of City Gate is demolished, the routing of traffic within the City will permanently and radically change. I stand to be corrected, but I believe the new proposed access routes involve the use of relatively narrow streets, tight bends and steep inclines. Anything short of safe access and passage for all vehicles eg bowsers, delivery vans, cranes, etc, and not just passenger cars within the City walls does not augur well for the future and I would have thought would be a major concern for all.

M Cassar

Mar 10th 2010, 12:57

The Valletta Alive Foundation has urged the government to start and complete the City Gate project in the shortest possible time. Ha thallsu kollox intom jaqaw Valletta Alive Foundation? Filkaz mhux problema haffu. F ekonomija batuta sens komun u esperti ekonomici kollha jghidulek taqta public spending specjalment progetti kapitali kbar mela tkompli tghaffeg. Postpone the Piano project. Forget the parliament, tackle the economy.

Marvin Mizzi

Mar 10th 2010, 12:49

Up till now we have city Gate and with the so called project will would have none just a hole in the fortificaction ....... and the ruines of the Theatre would still remain ruines and more important the coffers of the country with 80m or more less less ... and money gather from the tax paxyers and used to create nothingness....

C Cassar

Mar 10th 2010, 12:35

Exactly, just get on with it and stop the continuous pointless debates. Malta needs to change it's attitude from talking all of the time to actually doing all of the time.

Joe Cassar

Mar 10th 2010, 12:26

Could we have some information about this foundation?

I'm curious to know what its aims are and who are the people invoilved.

K Spiteri

Mar 10th 2010, 12:13

Recent free Open-air events in Valletta proved to be much successful.

We need more of these Notte's... They can be the tool to revive Valletta by night.

Chris Borg

Mar 10th 2010, 12:04

Is it my impression or is an NGO being created for each and every issue on the island??

Anthony Mizzi

Mar 10th 2010, 12:01

Any chance of knowing where and when it is planned that the Sette Guigno 1917,Monument will be taken back Valletta to a suitable location it rightly deserves ?

It was to be a part of the City gate project.....

C.Sammut

Mar 10th 2010, 11:57

'Shortest' as in 'prior to elections'? Is this how major national projects should be planned?

Charles Grech

Mar 10th 2010, 11:40

The city gate entrance can remain what we have; only it has to be enhanced with fountains on the sides, and further enhancement to the interior and outside.
This will save the road on top, the inconvenience of rebuilding, plus lots of money!

Anne Marie Kissaun

Mar 10th 2010, 11:38

I fully agree that the Valletta Project should go ahead sooner rather than later, but only, if the Opera House should be rebuilt in its original state and that Parliament House should find another niche in Valletta. City Gate should be given its original entrance with some changes of course and that Freedom Square should be given a face lift, as St. George's square, hopefully, with better tastes, as, in my opinion, I find that St. George's Square is very bland nothing in comparision to what I was hoping for. I sincerely hope that this saga will come to a fruitful end and to the satisfaction of all who have been writing in favour of getting back the Opera House in its original state.

I Cassar

Mar 10th 2010, 11:16

Well said. Just go ahead with it and finish it in time please.

Carmen Vella

Mar 10th 2010, 11:07

And who does the Valletta Alive Foundation represent? The cultural committee of the Valletta PN Club, perhaps? It would be good to know as their voice is like one in the desert.

Myrna Minkoff

Mar 10th 2010, 11:07

agreed 100%
people need to stop complaining and just preciate that something is being done FOR THE ARTS by the GOVERNMENT in general.

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 10th 2010, 11:06

At last someone with guts has spoken!

Come on PM, let’s get started and implement the plans as per Renzo Piano’s, we have been waiting for this project for over sixty years and now is the time to do it; otherwise it will again take us another sixty years of discussions and deliberations and after these sixty years, then another sixty years recurring…

We cannot continue discussing this project as it is only natural that there will be those who will oppose and object but I am certain that the majority of the Maltese citizens are sick and tired of all these delaying tactics and they want this project to be implemented IMMEDIATELY.

Of course, the Government cannot please all the 100% of the population; but now is the TIME to get going and get rid once and for all, of this dilapidated site.

The current state of the sorry site in question is a DISGRACE to our beloved country!

PM, show us your true leadership and let’s move on!

JC.

Wayne Hewitt

Mar 10th 2010, 10:58

Agreed. Falling to the nay sayers trap and stop the project would be a far greater disservice to the country than doing something criticisable. Whatever the government is going to do there, he will always find people critical of one thing or another.

Time has come for the government to bite the bullet, and move forward. I would also add St. Elmo in the regenration plan as the southern part of Valletta cannot be left unattended. Valletta has to be regenerated as a whole and a plan should be holistic.

ASpiteri

Mar 10th 2010, 10:51

“The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”

Milton Friedman – Political Philosopher

This project is exactly the implementation of this inspiring quote!