More than 100 Attard residents, a number of non-governmental organisations and the Attard local council have teamed up to urge the authorities to protect a historic aqueduct.
Attard’s Wignacourt Aqueduct, which runs along the side of Peter Paul Rubens Street, risks being destroyed, as developers constructing villas in the area are proposing the building of another road on the opposite side of the aqueduct.
The residents and NGOs are insisting that no such development should even be considered before the aqueduct, which is scheduled as a Grade 1 monument and therefore should be conserved, together with its context, is adequately preserved.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Carmel Cacopardo told The Sunday Times of Malta that an application had been filed for a villa there to be demolished and replaced by four semi-detached villas.
Two of the villas, he said, would be accessible from a street that has yet to be built and which will be on the opposite side of the aqueduct, insisting that this move would render the historic monument a “central strip”.
Most people don’t even know it’s there, let alone if a road is built and it’s simply buried under a central strip
“Our preoccupation is the protection of the historical heritage. On the one side of the area there is the old railway embankment, for which the local council has just been granted EU funds for restoration.
“On the other side we are preoccupied because of this large stretch of freestanding aqueduct,” Mr Cacopardo said.
One of the objectors, Din l-Art Ħelwa, commissioned an architect to analyse the situation. He had drawn up a report on the need to protect the large stretch, Mr Cacopardo said, adding that despite this, the only response from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage’s was to suggest the appointment of an official to monitor the construction works.
“Once there is this activity, it will continue. What we think needs to be done is ensure adequate measures for the protection of the aqueduct.
“That should be the priority, and at this point in time the permit should not be approved,” Mr Cacopardo went on.
Residents who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta lamented the rapid increase in development in the locality, insisting that Attard had already changed drastically over the years and it was unacceptable that building villas was being given priority over something as historic as the aqueduct.
Another resident, who has lived in Attard for over 50 years, said that the aqueduct had already been ignored in the past when the roads were first built and similar mistakes should be avoided and not repeated.
“Most people don’t even know it’s there, let alone if a road is built and it’s simply buried under a central strip,” the exasperated resident said.