The Nationalist Party said it welcomed the announcement that the National Museum of Fine Arts project was to continue as originally planned with this being relocated to the Auberge d’Italie.
But the PN insisted the government had said in the past days that it was withdrawing the project, on which a lot of preparatory work had been carried out in the past legislature.
Spokesman Francis Zammit Dimech said in a statement that the idea to use the Auberge d’Italie for the project was bound to the fact that this was at a more central place and that the museum would be developed into a high class tourist attraction.
The ministry which currently used the auberge could be easily relocated.
There was also a historical link between the auberge and the project because the art collection was originally kept at the same auberge.
The news given yesterday, the PN said, showed that the government had accepted the clear suggestion made by the Opposition and Maltese and Gozitan artists.