World-renowned architect Renzo Piano will no longer be involved in the City Gate project once work on the new Parliament is complete, according to Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi.

Speaking on Times Talk, the minister said the government had not ruled out a garden at the City Gate ditch and the final decision would take into consideration the interests of the area and of the whole of Valletta.

Although the garden was still a possibility, Mr Piano would not be involved in its development, Mr Mizzi said. The government was also considering whether to have other uses added to the site.

Access to the ditch has been closed since late 2010 when works on the Valletta entrance project started.

In his plan, Mr Piano, who was commissioned to come up with the design, earmarked the open space in the ditch between St John Cavalier and St James for a public garden as part of his vision for a regeneration of the capital’s entrance.

However, the Labour administration shelved the garden in July 2013 as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Faced by a public outcry against the decision, the government insisted the project incorporating the new parliament building and the open theatre was running over budget.

Then, Mr Mizzi had said the public garden decision would save about €1.9 million. He also said that final decision would be taken at a later stage.

Some months later, while inspecting works at City Gate during a brief visit to Malta, Mr Piano questioned the change of plans, remarking that the proposed garden “was very important to the project”.

A few weeks later he submitted fresh plans and fuelled hopes that the government might reconsider its decision.

Soon after, the Infrastructure Ministry had said the new designs would be evaluated in conjunction with another proposal.

Last week, “temporary and preliminary” works started at the ditch to give “controlled” access to authorised vehicles in the area of the ditch close to the National Statistics Office.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said the works would not “prejudice” further embellishment of the ditch because its “development” was still under consideration.

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