The shelved public garden at Valletta City Gate ditch could be given a new lease of life after Renzo Piano submitted fresh plans that are being evaluated.
Architect Konrad Buhagiar, whose firm, Architectural Project, is working on the City Gate regeneration, said that when Mr Piano was in Malta last December he was “trying to save it” because the proposed garden was “very important to the project”.
It would be a pity to lose the public garden
“I don’t know what the final decision has been but it would be a pity to lose the project [public garden],” Mr Buhagiar told Times of Malta.
The design, “being evaluated” by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, is considered to be an attempt to keep the embellishment of the ditch area on the cards.
The government had decided to forfeit the garden last July to save €1.9 million.
But a spokeswoman for the Infrastructure Ministry said that the fresh plans submitted by Mr Piano were being “evaluated in conjunction with the proposal currently being studied for the areas in the ditch”.
Sources told this newspaper that one of the options considered was asphalting the ditch and using it as a public car park.
The garden was considered to be an important part of the plan originally submitted by Mr Piano for City Gate. It would fall in that portion of the ditch between the St James and St John Cavalier, considered the most important area because the two fortification branches are visible from the City Gate bridge.
Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi announced the decision to shelve plans for the embellishment of the ditch on July 17 in reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Chris Agius. Mr Mizzi said the decision was taken to use the funds to partly bridge the shortfall of money for the main project.
Projects are at least €6 million over budget
The use of the ditch to collect rain to use as second-class water in the new Parliament building and for the watering of plants would not be affected, Mr Mizzi had said.
He also said that the €80 million Parliament building and City Gate projects had fallen short of funds and were at least €6 million over budget.
Plans to embellish the area around the Triton Fountain, which was meant to be encased in a huge new pedestrian piazza, have also been suspended as part of the cost-cutting exercise and because of a review of the public transport system.
There was a public outcry when the decision to halt the embellishment was announced. Back in July, Chris Paris, CEO of Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, that was entrusted by the previous government to handle the project, had described the reaction as “a storm in a teacup”. He said that, in the circumstances, the best decision was to put the garden on hold as it was detached from the rest of the project.
The opening of the Parliament building has been postponed to October.
Limited activity on the City Gate site could be noticed over the past month. However, the Infrastructure Ministry insists there is no ‘go slow’ mode and that the deadline will be met.
“The government is overseeing the project to ensure that the set timeline is respected and honoured by the contractors and regular meetings are being held with contractors, project managers and project architects,” the ministry spokesman said.