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Ambitious Cottonera project unveiled

The Regatta Club as at present and as proposed following the building of a canopy around it.

The Regatta Club as at present and as proposed following the building of a canopy around it.

The government has unveiled an ambitious €9.3 million project to regenerate the Cottonera area.

The project, which is divided into five parts, is expected to be completed by the end of next year, project leader Hector Chetcuti said.

Called “Stronger Cottonera Communities: The Citizen’s Right to Accessibility”, it is 85 per cent financed by the European Regional Development Fund and 15 per cent by the government.

The first part of the project involves the regeneration of Xatt ir-Risq and Dock 1. A budget of €7.5 million is being allocated for the purpose.

A walk through from the present Vittoriosa Waterfront through Senglea Point will be created. It will also include the semi-pedestrianisation of Gavino Gulia Square and the regeneration of the Dock area.

The second part deals with social regeneration and will consist of the upgrading of St Nicholas Married Quarters and the Verdala Housing Estate.

A total of 94 families live in these areas in Grade 1 structures which form part of the fortifications. So the remit of the project will be limited to an upgrade of the facades and the reorganisation of access to the housing estate and parking. €1.465 million are being allocated for the project.

Residents have been ordered to removed illegal structures built over the years including walls, rooms, washrooms and kennels.

The third project is the physical regeneration of the San Gwann t’Ghuxa area. A budget of €134,000 has been allocated for this project, being carried out in partnership with the Cospicua council. It will include the landscaping of the area.

The fourth project is the regeneration of the area around Dar Andrew, an independent living centre for disabled people.

Paving will be standardised and the parking reorganised while accessibility to the home would be improved. A budget of €76,000 is being allocated for this project.

The last project is the creation of a feeder bus route for the Cottonera area, as part of the national bus transport system.

Mr Chetcuti said the permits for the regeneration of Dock 1 and Xatt ir-Risq were already in hand and the tenders had been issued and were being adjudicated.

Tenders for the remaining works would to be issued pending planning permits, which were expected to be in hand within the coming weeks.

He said that while the San Gwann t’Ghuxa project would be completed by the end of this month, the rest of the project would be completed by the end of 2011.

Housing Authority chairman Charles Borg said this was a project with an integrated approach. The authority had met the more than 90 families who were to be affected, some of them more than others, and it made a commitment to provide them with alternative accommodation. This was, however, being dealt with on a case by case basis.

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iCocker

Sep 4th 2010, 18:01

Sorry a couple of arches are nothing that reflect the soul of Cospicua! Are you comparing those arches with the Colliseum by chance or else the SGI effects that were done for the movie Gladiator on that area, maybe you thought they were real?!

But what does anything Roman have to do with Xatt ir-Risq!?

Pule' Carmel

Sep 4th 2010, 19:39

I only thought that Rome as a city in the dimension of time brought together designs of buildings and roads and artistic representations as statues in squares and fountains and an atmosphere where people could live as people and not as machines. It is a formula that Maltese architects do not seem to be able to create. We tend to build and design on a solitary principle od a particular building rather than a city as a whole where everything apears to be harmonious. Rome I believe has got that characteristics in built in it. Many of our old villages had it too but now the harmony in differnet building is not continuous and it is like transient music in my eyes in other words .... horrible.

Joe Fenech

Sep 4th 2010, 21:35

Carmel Pulé:

We are not more refined than the Kuwaitis ....unfortunately!

POOR MALTA!!!!!!!!!!!

A.Borg

Sep 4th 2010, 14:12

Can you guide what can we boost as Maltese architectural heritage from just a plain facade and some arches. Hope our architectural students get the opportunity to check this extraordinary design before it is brought down ... if it was a structure similar to the Valletta Waterfront or Birgu's waterfront I would but this simple style from the 70s and 80s which look like something from the Middle-east, is bad taste to me ... hope the face of the arches is over!

Daniel Mercieca

Sep 3rd 2010, 13:46

the paving needs redoing, those metal garage doors removed and the stone on the regatta club top floor replaced by glass or nice baloustrades

C Fabri

Sep 3rd 2010, 11:39

Ma tantx nafhom jibzaw ghal link ta' l-Orizzont, ibda mit-titli ta' nofs pagna li tant ihobbu jpoggu fuq l-ewwel faccata tal-gazzetta!!! Xi wiehed bhal tal-llum ezempju 'MILJUN IEHOR!' Biex ihamgu lin-nies ghandhom linka imma biex ifahru xi haga ma jkollhomx imsieken hux...tkun hela!

Daniel Mercieca

Sep 3rd 2010, 11:39

exactly - that's what i wrote below!

Daniel Mercieca

Sep 3rd 2010, 11:41

well that would b positive - that monument is really ugly anyway and covers the nice church facade

Daniel Mercieca

Sep 3rd 2010, 11:42

its d same 1 who designed the ta qali, hagar qim & mnajdra canopies

Randolph Peresso

Sep 3rd 2010, 00:33

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jake Farrugia

Sep 3rd 2010, 09:06

What's "Maltese looking" about it? It is built exactly in the shape and style of british soldier barracks. That's not a style. And certainly is NOT Maltese. It's just a plain cube placed in an area which really needs a good facelift to take advantage of the touristic/economic potential that it has. Anywhere else in the world we would be praising the fact that modern contrasted against a historic background is a very wise aesthetic decision.

Gladly enough we do not put taste to popular vote...

Paul Fenech

Sep 2nd 2010, 20:06

well its obviouslly a question of prioirities... Valletta Entrance is much more important compared to Cottonera wharf

Andrew B. Gatt

Sep 2nd 2010, 20:26

OK. But you also have to mention the Verdala area, which was converted into residences by Labour. Every tentative in trying to upgrade BORMLA and all Cottonera was always put forward by PN Governments. Ah, I forgot, Labour also made that famous Helsien monument in front of such a majestic San Lawrenz Church. Ask the people who truly love BIRGU ( like me, though being a Bormliz ) how much they fancy it ! PN, PL what a difference. In style !

EGatt

Sep 2nd 2010, 18:21

Totally agree with Franco. Am a Cospicua born myself and only believe that the structural distress is a problem but the deep rooted problem is the societal and educational one. I would extend your idea by PROPERLY educating, training and aiding these people to lead a healthy life for them and for their children. Let's stop saying that helping, and training these people is an extra burden on the society and on the country's budget. Let's think in the medium to long term and finally costs would pay off. Hope that we can all experience a new societal scenario in the Cottonera and the South of Malta - it's all for us to gain!

m vella

Sep 2nd 2010, 18:28

Franco I agree with you 100%,very well said,authorities please take note

Franco Farrugia

Sep 3rd 2010, 09:22

It is not uncommon for certain underprivileged areas abroad to get their own 'sub-'authorities to ensure that the needs of such communities are met and respected in a particular manner. I would also venture that there should be a sub-Department of Education in the Cottonera area, and special classes and courses held there. Get professionals to go knocking on each door and invite people personally to such courses. Coerce them! Threaten them, if need be. Get the three parishes to help - they should also give a helping hand and not merely continue focussing on their collegiate ecclesiastical rights and privileges, within their churches. This is what should be done, first and foremost. The cosmetic stage, if need be, comes after.

Ritienne Grixti

Sep 5th 2010, 00:20

The problem of the Cottonera area is that the housing is cheap so many people with low income come to live here. “Improving the educational standard of the young and not-so-young inhabitants of the area” I think you should say “improving the education of the some young….” You know what not all people living in the Cottonera lack of education… I am from Cospicua and I can assure you that not all people need someone to knock on their door to tell them that education is important… because WE KNOW. “Threaten them” are you serious???
Regarding the project I don’t think this should become a political issue. Saying that I like more the before view. The place needs refurbishment not to change completely.

P.Cassar

Sep 2nd 2010, 17:04

BUT GIAN, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO SAY SOMETHING WORTH READING ????????? WHEN ???????

Gianninu Saliba

Sep 3rd 2010, 10:01

P.Cassar if you do not enjoy reading my comments, you do not have to read them. It's that simple. But, it appears, my friend, that you have the urge to read what I have to say and hope that you will be able to contradict me. Like all the other socialists who tried before, you have failed miserably. Sorry, buddy, but as the saying goes: "the truth hurt". It does hurt, doesn't it? It's not nice to see Joseph's limitations being exposed and his comments reduced to rubbish.

Andrew B. Gatt

Sep 2nd 2010, 16:20

XI ZBALL GHANDEK ! GHADNA BILKEMM NOFS TRIQ !! IMBGHAD TA' WARA FIT - 2018 !

P Refalo

Sep 2nd 2010, 16:43

It s only half way and you still complain what so over.. comment on the project, give your ideas and other alternatives!!!

S. Zammit

Sep 2nd 2010, 16:48

what election???

RGatt

Sep 3rd 2010, 12:40

Would you rather have the Mintoff Project, i.e. THE WALL. Even without the forthcoming project, the area is a lot easier on the eye since the railings along the no.1 dock were put up and since there's the Vittoriosa yatch marina and waterfront. With the projected works it will all be a lot nicer. What did labour ever do for Cottonera? I'm from Cospicua and know very well what I'm writing here. I hope now the Mayor of Cospicua won't come out saying that it was all his doing as he's saying about other Govt. projects. Even for the Cospicua Parish church it had to be a private citizen to get millions from the EU funds to restore it. All the Cospicua Mayor has done all these years he's been there is a huge hole in the council's finances. My astonishment is the fact that election after election, he's elected with the most votes when we all know he's not a capable person for such a post. We all know that there are PL candidates who exceed him by far intellectually. Labour always took the Cottonera people for granted.

Joseph Aquilina

Sep 3rd 2010, 09:32

Unfortunately no! It seems that the current generation of architects simply copy what others have done abroad and forget the architectural background of the Island.

Andrew B. Gatt

Sep 2nd 2010, 15:32

Siehbi, jekk BORMLA u l-bqija tal-Cottonera jiehdu dik l-ispinta 'l fuq, kif wara kollox jixraq XOMM LI TRID U LI JOGHGBOK !

N.Farrugia

Sep 2nd 2010, 15:40

Sodd imniehrek xbin! Jew warrab! Diga se tibda tispekula? Haddiehor qatt m'ghamel xejn ghal dal-post!

CCamilleri

Sep 2nd 2010, 15:41

Jien ukoll; cert MPs tal-PN ga bdew jaghmlu xi parties ....

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