I refer to the Talking Point entilted Heritage Protection Is Never Enough by Ray Bondin (February 9).

The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Francis Zammit Dimech in his address during the presentation of the BOV Tarxien Temples Project never said that "the country was drowning in heritage". What the minister said was that our country was covered in history. His exact words were "pajjizna hu miksi bl-istorja". Nobody can deny this fact. Second only to Rome, Malta has the highest concentration of historical sites.

Dr Bondin would also be pleased to note the exact context in which that statement was made. The Minister for Tourism and Culture was appealing for a more effective interpretation of our history, as has been done at the Hypogeum and the Domus Romana. In fact his speech was to emphasise the need of more projects of this calibre.

The Minister for Tourism and Culture, as Dr Bondin rightly acknowledges, is doing his utmost for heritage protection. This year's budget for Heritage Malta - including funds from the European Union - went up by 50 per cent to Lm2.3 million. But it is never enough. With the financial support of the private sector, as that coming from the banks, with funds from the European Union, through private public partnerships we can do much more for the conservation, restoration and interpretation of our heritage sites, a good number of which were declared by Unesco as world heritage sites.