Some days ago I expressed my opinion about the ugliness of the design for the visitors' centre at Ħaġar Qim.

Today, on seeing the structure taking shape I have become convinced of its monstrosity. I would like to ask if an Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out for the project. And whether the Qrendi local council has been consulted, and if so, whether it has given its approval.

The shape and height of this building have already destroyed the skyline of the hill leading to the main entrance of the temple. Why it had to be built right there boggles the mind. Wouldn't it have been a better idea to place it some 200 metres down and further to the left in the same place where the land was covered with a makeshift landfill in the 1970s, which is still an eyesore today? The visitors would have had to walk a few more metres but the structure would have been hidden away and the landscape which serves as a background or as a foreground to the temples would have been saved and preserved.

Another option could have been to locate it at the disused huge hard-stone quarry further behind Mnajdra Temples. There it would have been completely hidden away, the quarry which is an ugly scar made pristine and there would have been ample parking space, all hidden away from view.

In my opinion what the visitors will wonder at with astonishment when they approach Ħaġar Qim will be the scarcity of imagination and creativity and lack of environmental sensitivity of the authorities who issued the building permits for such a gross monstrosity right at the feet of the historical temples. My amazement is that while so much ado was raised, and rightly so, about the proposed visitors' centre at Dwejra in Gozo, nobody is batting an eyelid about such another huge blunder by Mepa.