Piano design office paid €2.4m
The Renzo Piano design office has been paid € 2,428,800 since it was assigned the City Gate project, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt confirmed in parliament yesterday.
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Anthony Pace Gouder
Nov 24th 2010, 01:50
We have to take into account the fact that this payment includes the 'design' (?) of an invisible City Gate (a heresy in a walled fortified City) .
The payment too is for the painstaking 'design' in retaining 'YEARS-OLD RELIQUARY' ruins, surmounted with a 'scaffold-like' structure of a so called theatre ,withn payments on the 'design' of a 'missing' roof .
That's not enough ,the payment includes the bottom-less 'design' of an imaginary "FLYING' ,as described by Piano himself , Parliament on stilts. This may be an addition to the Airline Fleet !
Like the fable of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' there is good money paid out for 'NOTHINGNESS' !!!????? .....................Luckily , perhaps only in Malta , some people are paid, even rewarded merit and praised for providing THIN-AIR !
Ic-Cuc taqlaghlu ghajnejh jifrah !
c. camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 20:04
This is the payment for the world's best architect who has work in every city of the world. We must remember that notary Charles Mangion was paid 80,000 M.liri for the Pentel place project which is nothing compared with the city gate project. If one is familiar with these professionals one would not wonder about this sum. Who knows how much is paid to the architects incharge of Smart City, The Point, and other big projects. They simply charge 8% of the total cost. Owners of newly built residences should know all this..
Emmanuel Marmara'
Nov 23rd 2010, 19:46
Mr.C.Cassar , I assure you that there is more than enough local talent...We would like to know very much what your talent is...Besides I and a lot more have noticed ,that for you, as long as it is BLUE it's good , perfect and unchallenged.
MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:54
Does the 2.4 million Euro also include Piano's efforts for the first proposal?
I wonder what local architects are paid when they are asked to submit designs for a Government project? At Piano's rates they would retire after their first job!!!!
Such payments are an insult to our local talent
C Cassar
Nov 23rd 2010, 18:35
There clearly is no local talent, that's why Piano was engaged. For Once Malta has someone with real expertise and professionalism involved in such a project, not someone who has only seen what's on the Maltese Islands. Many comments on here show clearly what's wrong with Malta - too much inward looking and bever admitting that the skills are simply not around locally (just look at the chronic bus system for the last 50 years, now foreign expertise has been finally brought in to rectify a hugely embarrassing operation). The project is underway thank God and what a transformation it will be. A real breath of fresh air where comtemporary meets traditional.
R. Saliba
Nov 24th 2010, 10:41
@ C Cassar
Defeatists are the ones to ensure that the many Maltese who have talent are not recognised. A perverse case of sour grapes, perhaps?
Make no mistake. Maltese have talent and lots of it too.
If guided properly, we can make our mark on the world in any field we choose to enter.
Chris Sant
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:40
What a shame! And some of our residential streets are worse than in a third world country. Are we living in a different country? Why are our local councils and MPs so silent infront of this extravagance when their citizens are living in horrible streets?
N.Lawrence
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:23
Two and a half million for a little cardboard model. THAT is good value for money!
j.saliba
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:15
The Maltese saying goes: 'ta li thallas tiekol'. A sign of strong finance. Today we can afford the best. No more racanc. We deserve the best as we voted for the best.
Frederick Cachia
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:11
Renzo Piano and his colaborators have insulted the Maltese Citezen expecially the Valletta community for ignoring the statue of the G.M La Valette to be incorporated in the whole project A person who our beloved city is named after him Really disgraced
Alfred Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:02
B. Briffa. Addio belt barokka. I suppose you are one of those who clamoured for the re-building of Barry's Opera House. Pray, what was 'barokka' about that building?
Norman Lowell. I see you are quite chummy with that word - miserable. Wonder why?
john vella
Nov 23rd 2010, 16:54
Did you all read the news!
Today's latest news: The oil drilling tests LOOK GOOD. Please can some one help me, because I can not stop crying.
When this government face turn red (and it is not easy to come by) we are told we are making headway in our find for black gold. There we have it, all is well on the western front. And we shall live happy ever after!
S. Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 18:45
Looks good today (2010). Will look better next year (2011) and we'll be near striking oil the year after (2012). Post General Election ... puff!!! Nothing. Just another dry bore hole. I'm sorry Dr. Gonzi, we'll get excited when we actually DO find that black gold. Not before.
Norman Lowell
Nov 23rd 2010, 14:36
This is the last, miserable act of Gonzi's miserable govt.
Phil Humphries
Nov 23rd 2010, 14:07
So that's €2,400 on the Gonzi Parliament Building and the remainder on scaffolding, smoke and mirrors.
City Gate Project ? - Don't make my laugh ! - OIM and Gullible don't even come close.
And how much more will Piano's firm receive by the time this farce is completed (if ever) ?
l.fenech
Nov 23rd 2010, 16:17
Phil, the m stands for millions so its worst than you thought.
l fenech
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:28
Tajjeb ukoll.
j gatt
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:25
Solar panels on top of The new Parliament Building? a unique and expensive Sun Shade perhaps??
Very, very nice...
b briffa
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:24
Addio belt barokka.
leo attard
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:23
....And so Nero found a city of brick and left a city of marble! And when the new Rome - eh, I mean Valetta - is built, then thePM can officially open it with a song from a lyre while Austin Gatt will fan him on one side, and Tonio Fenech will dangle a bunch of grapes over his head!......quo vadis, Melita?
G. Grech
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:06
these fees are an insult to the tax payer.
michael fenech
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:06
We are so proud with the advance the Maltese worker had made over the years ,we are so proud with our university and our education system, is it possible that not one of the many Maltese architects could come up with an acceptable plan for City Gate. Or is it just possible that they were overlooked????????????? Shame.
j gatt
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:00
Quite an artistic (if not expensive) hole in the wall I say.
Very, very nice,
Need to be, with that ammount of commision paid
j gatt
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:03
Do`nt you see, something to fill the gap has to be in the pipe line.
Another future Mega commission pls.
michael fenech
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:05
We are so proud with the advance the Maltese worker had made over the years ,we are so proud with our university and our education system, is it possible that not one of the many Maltese architects could come up with an acceptable plan for City Gate. Or is it just possible that they were overlooked????????????? Shame.
Roderick Micallef
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:45
The only people that are pittied and poor are most Maltese citizens, with one hand we have a government that constantly reminds us of the international financial situation and recession and that we have to work harder and harder in these difficult times however the same persons that deliver these statements are the same persons that accepted to pay these exorbitant costs to a foreign architect.
To add insult to injury, any one familiar with Renzo's Piano's projects already knows and can fully understand that his style is very modern. Most of his projects can be found all over the world but most of the time the location reflects Renzo's Piano's work and most probably that is why he is chose in the first place. One of the many examples is the Pompidou Centre in Paris which hosts a Modern Art Museum.
However in Malta, I really can't understand why Piano was chosen as an architect because first and foremost there is nothing modern in the nearby vicinity, so Piano's project will look very odd to say the least. Additionally one of the very few open spaces in Valletta will be built but that's ok since it's the trend nowadays!
Joseph Galea
Nov 23rd 2010, 16:51
Mr. Micallef - what's wrong with modern? Or are you one of those who go by the simplistic equation: Old = Good, Modern = Bad? When the Knights built Valletta they designed and built it using the latest designs and technology that they were capable of. In fact, later they had no qualms about removing some of Gerolamo Cassar's original facades to replace them with more modern versions. By the way do you know that the Centre Pompidou in Paris is over three decades old and is an icon of Paris as much as the Eiffel Tower (another much maligned structure in its time) is? You may remember the hue and cry from several quarters when the large 'Tal-Karmnu' dome was being built, several decades ago, with accusations that it was destroying Valletta. Well, Valletta still became a World Heritage site and (although the dome in itself is still not a favourite of mine) the huge structure has become an icon of the city. I suspect that the same characters who objected vehemently when the dome was being constructed would be protesting in the streets if anyone suggested demolishing it.
elton m
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:44
pity are those who believe in such stupidity of removing such monuments, statues, buildings which have represented malta for such long time... decades..centuries of valuable history all thrown away
Paul Xuereb
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:14
Poor Mr Camilleri, to expose his ignorance and aesthetic poverty so clearly.
J.Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:17
Surely, the least able Maltese architect could do a better design.
Then why was it not designed by a Maltese architect? you may ask.
I keep asking myself that same question.
I think I know the answer, thinking of the Delimara plant and BWSC and the river of contracts given by direct orders!
Phil Humphries
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:22
On the contrary, I feel that your words should be directed at Dr Gonzi, along with profligate, insensitive and many more besides.
Jeremy J Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:31
If I recall correctly, there was a good number of professionals, most probably better qualified than your kind self, who also criticised this design.
As with any other design however, the quality of aesthetic design is subjective, and calling someone who disagress with the proposed design as ignorant, is, well....Plain ignorance.
As with regards to the subject, after all the calls for sacrifice, splashing 2.4 million on a design without issuing tenders or considering loacl talen is just plain hypocritical.
s.koludrovic
Nov 23rd 2010, 15:13
OK, I might also be ignorant and maybe not as cultured as some of you lot, but I don't see any aesthetic beauty in that design.
S. Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 15:52
I gather you can see beauty in everything ... good luck to you then. But we not getting a Louvre or Sistine Chapel nor a Parthenon or Notre Dame. More like a monument to one man's dream of grandeur. BTW, have you been to l'EUR in Rome??
joe vella
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:05
what a crying shame! so the maltese worker gets a miserly 1.16 euro per week increase, a huge hike in W&E bills, rising fuel prices, air malta in the doldrums, the ministers get a 27000euro increase and renzo gets the rest!
great show, keep it up!!
JOe VELLa
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:42
What a shame!
A friend of mine told me that it is all the fault of the opposition party. They should leave parliament as the PN did in the past, let those who want to ruin this country do it alone. Where is the opposition other than blubbering without any follow up with the PN in government.
As one minister said, if the tourist that come can not afford to pay the buses we do not want them! My friend said: 'If the opposition is not heard and with out fiber they should not be part of this mess'.
S. Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 11:48
Not bad for a breach in wall, a gutted theater that will look like a construction site with scaffolding, and an aquarium on stilts.
Ian Galea
Nov 23rd 2010, 12:11
Pity you didn't come up with the design yourself Mr. Camilleri, if you think it is that simple. You could have been sauntering permanently in the Caribbean sun by now!
l fenech
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:34
@ S Camilleri.
You are dead right. We are paying infull for a half baked theatre. This also goes for the BWSC project still shrouded in mystery.
JOhn Frendo
Nov 23rd 2010, 13:46
S. Camilleri you are right Camilleri. Those PN apologists who criticized you are happy or as we say in Maltese KK.
Isn't Camilleri right when he described the Valletta Piano project? A breach in the wall of a fortified city, a roofless theatre and a Circus Clowns Parliament on stilts. This is what Gonzipn will be remembered for apart from the "perceived" corruption that pervades his government.
S. Camilleri
Nov 23rd 2010, 15:43
A great pity Mr.Galea ... I could have retired handsomely. But an even greater pity is that I have to pay taxes through my nose to sponsor a Parliament building the country does not want and a half baked theatre we do not need. If Renzo could have stopped at the Gate ... might have been a different story!
j gatt
Nov 23rd 2010, 17:00
Quite an artistic (if not expensive) hole in the wall I say.
Very, very nice,
Need to be, with that ammount of commision paid