Plans to restore the Mediterranean Conference Centre have been marred by authorities' failure to provide complete information about the works to be carried out, an environmental NGO has said. 

In a statement, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar said that a UNESCO report on the proposed works had not been made public and argued that the Planning Authority had voted to approve the works before the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had given its final approval.

A €10 million project to add two panoramic lifts and a rooftop viewing platform to the MCC was approved by the PA earlier this week, just days after the government announced that UNESCO had given the works its approval.

The controversial works are opposed by a number of environmental NGOs as well as by Valletta local council, but the government said that UN experts had found that the works would have a net positive effect on the historic building.  

In its statement today, FAA expressed concern that the PA hearing for the works had revealed that the rooftop platform would be capable of holding up to 1,000 people.

The NGO said it drew no comfort from the PA Board's statement that the project's architect would be responsible for ensuring adequate safety.  

"Architects’ responsibility spans 15 years, while we are duty bound to preserve such a noble structure for centuries. Have we learnt nothing from the mistakes of the past?"

What impact on Valletta's World Heritage status?

The NGO noted that UNESCO had alerted the World Heritage Centre that several Valletta projects had not been accompanied by a Heritage Impact Assessment to allow all parties to assess their impact on the capital city's World Heritage status. 

UN experts had made it clear that Valletta had to have a management plan in place if it was to retain its status, FAA said, and had stressed the need to protect views from and to the city. 

"The Planning Authority is reported to have assured UNESCO that a long-standing commitment to a Views and Vistas analysis would be honoured, however the granting of a permit for the Townscape high-rise project that falls within the Valletta buffer zone, shows otherwise," the FAA statement read. 

 

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