The Ta’ Qali crafts village has been promised a makeover a number of times over the last decade. Commitments by the government that the place, as well as that at Ta’ Dbiegi, in Gozo, would be regenerated to make them more attractive for tourists in search of a genuine local experience to take home with them after holidaying in Malta have featured in successive national budgets.

The Ta’ Qali crafts village has, for many years, suffered from benign neglect. Substandard workshops, poor transport connections, bad roads and a tatty image made the place unattractive to visitors. In fact, not much has been done since the late 1960s, when part of the military base there, which contained a number of Nissan huts was turned into commercial outlets specialising in the manufacture and sale of local artisan products.

Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg has now announced that €14 million of EU funds will be allocated to the upgrading of the Ta’ Qali crafts village. About 50 operators will receive funding but are also expected to fork out about €4 million out of their own pocket to see the project through.

What many are asking is whether this plan will indeed be implemented to see the crafts village becoming indeed one of the main venues for visitors who want to get to know more about Malta’s traditional arts and crafts.

One positive step is that Malta Enterprise has introduced an incentive scheme for those crafts village operators who want to participate in the upgrade plan. The extension of the lease of the crafts village tenants to 65 years is another recent positive development that will encourage operators to invest in their workshops and retail outlets at Ta’ Qali.

But much more needs to be done. The bulk of the EU funds will go to the improvement of the infrastructure of the village, including the surrounding roads, bus stop shelters, landscaping and other amenities that are indispensable in any major tourist venue. The frequency of public transport to and from the crafts village also needs to be revised to make it easier for visitors to get there.

Of course, an essential element of this exercise should be the actual upgrade of what one expects to find in the workshops. A crafts village should be about creativity and educating people visually about the skills and crafts that local people have developed over the ages.

Yes, at the end of the day operators need to make a profit by selling locally-manufactured products. However, a crafts village is not a street market for local souvenir hunters. It should be a centre where local artisans practise their crafts in the presence of visitors interested in learning more about our culture while they are on holiday.

Part of the Ta’ Qali crafts village upgrade project needs to address in a meaningful manner the enforcement of high-quality standards that protect locally-made products against the importation of cheap mass-produced substitutes made in low-cost countries. It is in the interest of operators of this village to support such standards to protect their long-term interests.

The photo opportunity associated with the launching of the long-vaunted project is over. It is now time for the government to give more details on how this project will be managed. The substantial amount of EU and local entrepreneurs’ funds that are committed to the initiative call for an informative profile of what this project will deliver to operators, tourists and the public.