City Gate, theatre to be ready ahead of schedule

All projects handled by Austin Gatt’s ministry are due early except Dock 1
The new entrance to the capital city and the controversial roofless theatre on the site of the Royal Opera House will be finished by the end of the year, Investments Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.
“While we were planning for the whole project ­– the entrance, Parliament building and the theatre – to be ready for June of next year, the indication is that the entrance and the theatre will be ready six months ahead of schedule... by the end of the year,” he said.
The flagship project of this legislature, Renzo Piano’s work will undoubtedly feature as an achievement in the electoral campaign, which at the very latest will take place in the first quarter of 2013. But not everyone will applaud the efficiency with which this project has been carried out, particularly the roofless theatre, which was at the receiving end of significant criticism when it was first unveiled.
The announcement comes amid frustrations at the length of time it has taken to finish a set of arterial roads in Malta and Gozo that have been dug up simultaneously over the past few months.
The Minister, reporting on the work of his ministry in the fourth year of this legislature, justified the need to start the works at the same time. This, he said, was determined by the fact that they qualified for EU funds, which were attached to set timeframes.
Asked why one would only see a few people working on arterial stretches like the Luqa bypass, Dr Gatt said there should be more people working on finishing touches.
Garibaldi and Council of Europe Roads in Marsa and Luqa will reopen next month, while Marfa Road and the road from Xewkija to Victoria will be completed in July.
The Mellieħa bypass will reopen at the end of the year. And Xatt L-Għassara ta l-Għeneb – the road along Valletta Waterfront – will be reopened in two weeks’ time.
Dr Gatt said the new lift linking Pinto Wharf to the Upper Barrakka was also on schedule and would be completed in October or November. By that time, new ferries between Cottonera and Valletta will also be operating. In fact, he stressed that all projects handled by his ministry were on schedule except for the Dock 1 area rehabilitation project, which was delayed because the contractor had not delivered.
The Ċirkewwa terminal project, which had been in the pipeline for several years in previous legislatures, was also on track and would be completed in October, he said.
On residential roads, Dr Gatt said 400 would be completed by the end of the year.
However, no solution had yet been found over the rates paid to road contractors, who have demanded more money following a sharp rise in the price of bitumen, a main component of asphalt.
Asked about the Fort St Elmo project, Dr Gatt said the rehabilitation works would start next week.
Turning to SmartCity, the project in Kalkara that the government promised would create 5,600 jobs back in 2008, Dr Gatt said the investment was hard-hit by the global recession and the take-up of office space had been slow.
SmartCity officially opened its first office block, spread over 12,000 square metres, in October 2010.
But while the building of the hi-tech village is on target, the number of jobs it is bringing falls well below the levels established by a 2007 government-commissioned study that said SmartCity should employ about 2,800 people by 2011.
“The take-up was slower than I expected,” Dr Gatt said. The investor had already invested €62 million and infrastructural works were now in an advanced stage, “which demonstrates how much the investor believes in this project”.