Renovations on the Valletta indoor market, known as the Suq tal-Belt, should be completed by the end of next year, the Arkadia group said yesterday.

According to Arkadia general manager Antoine Portelli, the basement level of the Suq will serve as a food market, with fresh food outlets. This would include a butcher, a fishmonger, a delicatessen counter, a bakery as well as an area for the sale of fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, oils and wines.

“The ground floor will be dedicated to several stalls preparing culinary specialities for immediate consumption, like a meat and fish grill, traditional Maltese food, pizzeria, a vegan and vegetarian eatery, paninoteca and salad bar,” Mr Portelli said. The upper level will be transformed into an open space.

The government last year entrusted the market to the private company after a call for expressions of interest. Arkadia Group was granted a 65-year lease of the property by Parliament’s unanimous approval in January, to restore the neglected building.

The market will also create over a hundred new job opportunities

The rehabilitation works on the mid-19th century building are being carried out by a team of Maltese and Italian architects and engineers, Mr Portelli said.

“The architects and engineers are working together on different aspects of the project to bring back to life the Maltese collective memory of the Valletta market as it has always been known, with its colours and flavours of fresh produce and variety of food products,” he said.

Italian architectural design firm Archea, of world-renowned architect Marco Casamonti and partners Giovanni Pollazzi and Laura Andreini, were chosen, following an international call, to oversee the holistic design of the project.

Maltese firm CGE Architects, led by architects Philip Micallef and Joe Cassar, has been entrusted with the execution of the project, while architects Hermann Bonnici and Jean Frendo are the restoration consultants. The mechanical and electrical engineering works have been entrusted to the firm Camilleri & Cuschieri, led by engineers Carmel Cuschieri and Jonathan Bonnet, Mr Portelli went on.

Both teams are also working very closely with the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

On the cultural value of such a market, V18 chairman Jason Micallef said the revamp of the market would bring together both locals and tourists and would inject new life to the capital.

“The market will also create over a hundred new job opportunities. The building will also serve as a platform for cultural events, exhibitions and other such projects,” Mr Micallef said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.