Mdina ditch to be turned into public garden
The Mdina ditch would be transformed into a public garden by the end of 2012, Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino announced yesterday. The ditch project forms part of the ongoing works in the old city, costing more than €6 million, 85 per cent of...
The Mdina ditch would be transformed into a public garden by the end of 2012, Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino announced yesterday.
The ditch project forms part of the ongoing works in the old city, costing more than €6 million, 85 per cent of which is EU funded. It will see the area between the Greek Gate and Xara Palace transformed into a garden, covered with turf and lined with replanted citrus trees from the present grove.
Remains of a mediaeval tower which have been unearthed will be on display through a glass path in the ditch.
The Mdina Knights football club, which made use of the ground in the ditch, would be transferred elsewhere, Mr Pullicino said.
The restoration and foundation works will be carried out in three phases. The first phase, on the bastions under Vilhena Palace, should be ready by June while the other two phases will see similar work being done on the Despuig bastion (under the cathedral) and on the Magazine curtain. A call for tenders for the final two phases was made this week and the work should be ready within 18 months from the date the contracts were awarded, the minister said.
During a tour of the works yesterday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Mr Pullicino that during talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday the German leader was eager to know how Malta was spending EU funds and was pleased to learn about the investment in tourism.
The work in Mdina was not only this generation’s “sacrosanct duty” to pass on the cultural heritage to its children but also made sense economically, Dr Gonzi said. “We have to exploit our patriotism,” he said, pointing out the priority was always to generate new jobs.
The works were not only aesthetic restorations but structural interventions to reverse the damage sustained by the bastions, which were mainly built on clay, chief architect Norbert Gatt said. The plan, therefore, was to strengthen the bastions through structures which formed a mesh-like formation deep beneath the fortification walls to make them stronger.
Future plans include the rebuilding of the back of Vilhena Palace, which collapsed in past years.