The new Museum of Fine Arts should be open just in time for Malta’s stint as the European Capital of Culture, Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference in the central courtyard of Auberge D’Italie, Dr Herrera said converting the building from the Tourism Ministry into a state-of-the-art museum would cost some €5 million and take up to four years to complete.

“The museum move was part of our original bid for V18 and was also mentioned in our budget.

“This is definitely going to happen,” he said.

There had been some confusion last month after it was reported that the government had decided not to go ahead with the move. Artists reacted with fury to the news.

Under the plans, drawn up by the previous government, the Tourism Minister and Malta Tourism Authority were meant to shift to Admiralty House, which now houses the museum, but the government had said this building was too small for them.

A government spokesman later denied ever having planned to halt the relocation, despite several other spokesmen openly discussing the reasons behind the ‘cancelled’ plan.

The artists then cancelled a protest they had intended to stage and the government is looking for an alternative building to house the tourism officials.

Heritage Malta chairman Joe Buttigieg yesterday applauded the move saying the auberge would provide a fitting cultural context for the grand pieces in Malta’s fine arts collection.

“The full collection will be housed at the Auberge D’Italie and will be showcased beautifully in the central and austere building,” he said. The heritage agency has drawn up a design brief for applicants interested in refurbishing the auberge.

Reading from the proposal guidelines, Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella said the new museum would have to be self-sustainable, fully accessible and in keeping with the style of the building.

Mr Vella said he had been surprised to learn that the museum of fine arts had only attracted some 30,000 visitors this year. “It is no secret that as a country we have a low cultural partici-pation rate. However, I still would have expected this number to be much higher, especially considering the high number of tourists who came here this year,” he said.

The minister added that he expected the new building to attract at least 70,000 people in its first year.