Chaos and hubbub welcomed those entering Valletta yesterday as vendors cleared up their decades-old kiosks, telling this newspaper they were given three weeks to get the job done.
The kiosks, synonymous for years with the entrance to the capital, have all been closed as works get under way to revamp the area by the Triton Fountain.
Speaking to the Times of Malta, some vendors said they were only informed this week that they had three weeks in which to clear up and leave.
Asked whether they had been supplied with an alternative site – permanent or temporary – the vendors declined to comment at this stage.
Taxi drivers in the area have also been told that their stands will soon be relocated.
Once a public transport hub and home to all the buses stopping in Valletta, the area just outside City Gate will soon be pedestrianised as part of a regeneration project by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation announced last summer.
At the time of the launch, Parliamentary Secretary for Administrative Simplification Deborah Schembri admitted that the kiosk owners in the area were proving difficult to work with, but claimed that many were enthusiastic about the changes.
Some of the kiosks – which for years have sold milk, pastizzi, cigarettes, imqaret and cold drinks – have become landmarks and have often served as a meeting point for those heading into the capital by bus.
Before the dawn of mobile phones, generations of young people could often be seen lurking in the area outside City Gate known as tal-ħalib – which got its name from a small vending kiosk that sold fresh milk – as they waited for their friends to arrive at the capital.
Works on the project are expected to be completed before Valletta takes over as a European Capital of Culture next year.
Although the present kiosks will be removed, there will be some dozen new ones and a tourist information booth.
A new roundabout will be built in front of the Ministry of Education in Great Siege Road and the pavement in front of the Phoenicia Hotel will be rebuilt once utility services are laid. The trees in the area will be uprooted and eventually replanted in the Valletta ditch.
According to GHRC chairman Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, Renzo Piano’s architectural firm, with the help of lead architect Antonio Belvedere, advised on the project free of charge.