Projects Malta’s initiative to issue a call for proposals to “design, build, operate and maintain a multistorey underground car park and other facilities in Mosta” raises more questions than it answers.

From the outset, I must stress that initiatives seeking to alleviate Mosta’s perennial parking problem by and large are to be commended. However, this project has largely been kept away from public view since it was rekindled and, subsequently, unanimously approved by the present local council.

It is indeed surprising that our elected local representatives did not deem it appropriate to consult before proposing a major infrastructural project with potential adverse structural and material repercussions on the Mosta Rotunda, a local and international architectural landmark and pride of the town.

Even more astounding is the fact that, as I recall, neither of the two major political parties proposed any multistorey underground car parks at the proposed sites.

Projects Malta offers four zones under concession for implementation of one or multiple car parks. Zones A and B virtually abut the Rotunda (comprising the zone in front of the health centre and immediately behind the parish church, respectively). Zone C is located in Pjazza 16 ta’ Settembru (where the local market operates on Mondays) and zone D refers to a plot of land further afield, between Triq il-Wied and Triq il-Lunzjata.

Rather strangely, the request for proposals (RFP) document obliges interested parties to develop an underground car park in zone B and an overground/underground car park in zone A. Moreover, the document does not oblige applicants to develop an overground/underground carpark(s) in zones C and/or D.

The proposed project exposes the Mosta Rotunda to unnecessary and unwarranted structural risk

Could the authorities explain why they chose to make this important distinction?

Who is the driving force behind this insistence upon excavating right next to a scheduled Grade 1 monument? Have other sites been considered?

Projects Malta’s RFP document obliges proposers to “contribute towards the pedestrianisation of the area”.

Have the authorities considered a park-and-ride system on the outskirts of Mosta, which would encourage polluting traffic away from the town centre (rather than, as proposed, towards it) and aid the implementation of a pedestrianised zone around the parish square and perhaps beyond?

Annex VIII of the RFP document refers to a geological study carried out in zone B in 1996. This site investigation concludes that “the proposed excavation will be in solid rock, which is lower coralline limestone – mainly of second grade quality... In such material it is possible to encounter fissures and cavities which may be filled with softer material, as has already happened in borehole number 3” (one of seven boreholes drilled down to a depth of 20 metres below the existing road surface).

Projects Malta repeatedly gives the impression that it is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that excavating one or two multistorey underground car parks within “six metres” of the foundations of the rotunda (“unless the design allows for a lower amount”) is safe.

Yet the document states that the excavation process must proceed in such a manner that it “minimises displacements of the Mosta parish church and the health centre and any other third-party structures in the vicinity”.

Very reassuring indeed!

In conclusion, I feel that the proposed project exposes the Mosta Rotunda to unnecessary and unwarranted structural risk and hence should be stopped forthwith.

No mitigation measures can guarantee that the foundations of this sumptuous and historic edifice will not suffer the same fate as the Monte di Pietà, namely serious and widespread tension cracks along the walls or perhaps (God forbid) even worse, as a result of an adjacent excavation.

A similar proposed underground car park project behind the Rotunda was already immediately ruled out and not allowed to go to the EIA stage a few years back.

Systematically concealing this project from the public before presenting it as a fait accompli betrays the very essence of good governance, including the State’s obligation to protect, conserve and promote Malta’s cultural heritage.

The Rotunda and the people of Mosta deserve much better.

Sandro Vella is a consultant physician, diabetologist and endocrinologist with an interest in Malta’s cultural heritage.