Angelo Xuereb’s 1989 vision for transport to and from Valletta.

Most of the projects marked out on the map of Valletta are now a reality: The ferries to Sliema and Vittoriosa; the pedestrianisation of most of the major streets; the park-and-ride set up in Floriana; a car park built just outside City Gate. There is even a city bus following a circular route.

Not everything worked out, however. The map did not envisage that Merchants Street would also be pedestrianised; and the bus terminus was not relocated to St John’s Ditch – although it does look as though the Triton fountain will be moved.

Still, it was not bad, as visions go. Because at the time it was published in 1989, it was still a pipedream – Angelo Xuereb’s – and it would be years before things happened.

“I read about Renzo Piano’s plans for City Gate and wanted to put forward my own vision. What was meant to be a letter to the editor ended up as a spread of several pages in The Sunday Times of Malta, which appeared just before Cabinet debated the project,” he said with a grin.

Mr Xuereb has a folder packed with neatly laminated copies of articles he has published over the years, coming up with idea after idea for Valletta, public transport and even moats.

He has no intention of stopping there and intends to publish more and more plans – all the while getting on with his own company’s projects.

Never giving up

His public ideas have materialised with less hassle than his private ones. He spent so long waiting for a permit to develop the Duke of Edinburgh in Victoria that he sold it. He was a bit luckier and only had to wait seven years for the Palace Hotel permit – which was a relief after waiting some 23 years for the permit to build the €43 million Hilltop Gardens in Naxxar, using land that was previously a construction depot. He is still waiting patiently for the permit for the Verdala Hotel, which he bought from the government in 1994.

Why do his projects get held up for so long? He doesn’t reply, only shrugging: “What do you think?”

And yet, he has never given up – or even slowed down. At the moment, AX Holdings has around €55 million worth of projects under way – some €3 million a month over 18 months – and as always, almost all of his projects have something that sets them apart.

Why do his projects get held up for so long? He doesn’t reply, only shrugging: ‘What do you think?’

He was the first person to submit an application for a private hospital, and was also a key investor in Viset, as Valletta Cruise Port was originally known.

The Suncrest, opened in 1987, was the largest hotel in Malta until three years ago, an ambitious project he took on when he was just in his early 30s. He came up with the idea of an ‘E’ shape to maximise the number of seaview rooms, and designed most of the hotel himself. For someone that driven, financing was certainly not going to hold him up and he managed to get a loan for 40 per cent of the cost – even though getting the bank to release that money was a nail-biting affair, and it took a heated confrontation in the corridors of Parliament before anything happened – just a few weeks before the hotel actually opened.

The hotel has just been given a thorough refurbishment, and the group has invested in the Luzzu lido to add to its amenities. The Victoria Hotel in Sliema is also getting a facelift. But the project closest to his heart at the moment is the retirement village, which he says will offer a totally different way for people to spend their silver years; on Saturdays, he often goes there himself to show people around.

“When I submitted the application for it in 1991, there was no policy on which to assess it. What does that say about us, that it takes 20 years to set a policy?” he said, with surprising little bitterness.

“It has turned out just as I imagined decades ago. But better. There has been tremendous interest and the units are going fast,” he said.

But even when this project takes in its first residents by the end of this year, Mr Xuereb is still far from a leisurely retirement for himself.

“I would like to build the tallest highrise on the island,” he said. “But the site has to be right. I would have been quite prepared to drop the Suncrest and put two towers up there... But it is useless to have highrises in two-star surroundings.

“Qawra needs – deserves – a good masterplan. There were once plans for a marina on the Qawra side, and we need more sand at Fra Ben. And what is the former Go site going to be used for?”

It will clearly not be too long until there is another article to be laminated and filed away. He admits to be being an optimist.

“It has been a constant uphill struggle. But look how far we have come in 40 years: my first contract was for a pavement in Balzan...”