About 135,000 square metres of bastion façades, stretching along six kilometres of fortifications in four towns, are being restored to the tune of €36 million.

Scaffolding can be seen covering bastions in Valletta, Mdina, Vittoriosa and the citadel in Gozo, where the four restoration projects are under way, financed mainly by the EU.

Many of the forts and bastions were not presentable and some were even in an advanced state of deterioration, due not only to natural factors but also human activity, Resources Minister George Pullicino said. Addressing a public seminar on The Restoration of the Historic Fortifications of Malta and Gozo, the minister said the sites that required the most urgent intervention were selected.

Apart from reflecting architectural and historical importance, they also presented various problems that required different methods of intervention and solutions, from the simple changing of stones to rock bolting, land consolidation and the installation of lighting and signage.

Mr Pullicino said extensive technical preparation had been carried out in the run-up to the restoration process by the Restoration Unit, which, over the last five years, has undertaken 90 projects.