Malta was fortunate to have a richness of heritage sites but this made it impossible for the Government to operate all of them, which made the role of NGOs so important, Culture Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said.

“Unfortunately, the Government can’t help through direct financial assistance. That is why we are discussing fiscal incentives and other forms of assistance which the Government can give both to NGOs and to those companies that assist them,” he said.

The Government has renewed the guardianship by Din l-Art Ħelwa of nine historic sites for another 10 years.

DLĦ executive president Simone Mizzi explained that the first formal agreement between the Government and the NGO occurred in 2002 when, for the first time, national monuments where entrusted into the care of an NGO.

Unfortunately, the Government can’t help through direct financial assistance

The nine sites include the Red Tower, the Santa Marija Tower and Battery, the Wignacourt Tower, the Mamo Towers and the towers of Dwejra, Għallis and Qalet Marku as well as the Protestant Cemetery, which have already been restored by DĦL.

Earlier this year, the Government entrusted the NGO with the management, care and conservation of Wied iż-Żurrieq Tower, which was in dire need of restoration.

Ms Mizzi said that over the past decade, DLĦ spent €2.5m on the restoration of the sites, the money being raised thanks to the generosity of sponsors and private individuals and through a number of fundraising activities.

In 2012, DĦL volunteers gave 20,000 hours of work and poured over €400,000 into the economy.

DĦL is restoring the lighthouse of Delimara and Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta and restoring the titular painting of the Sarria church in Floriana.

Ms Mizzi appealed to the Government to protect the island’s historic towns and villages and not allow speculation to destroy old buildings that gave the island its traditional characteristics.

She appealed for construction not to take place in the countryside, noting that DĦL’s hard work on monuments would be useless if these were removed from the context they were originally built in.