Promised changes by the government to improve the state of the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery have yet to see the light of day, as Malta’s largest burial site remains in a sorry state.

During a recent visit to the cemetery in Paola, Times of Malta once again found mountains of garbage bags in various areas, and while there were several rubbish bins in place, these proved useless, as they were still badly damaged and rusting, with garbage spilling from the side of the bins in some cases.

Candles and empty plastic bottles, often placed on tombstones by visitors, were strewn throughout the cemetery, while signs intended to encourage visitors to keep it clean were badly damaged.

As a result, most were illegible.

No maintenance personnel could be seen anywhere on the site

Overgrown weeds and branches also make walking around the cemetery a struggle, while the few benches available are mostly broken and unusable.

When the Times of Malta reported on the same issue some months ago, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, which is responsible for the cemetery, pledged that there would be more maintenance personnel on the grounds to ensure that the general upkeep improved.

Signs to keep the cemetery clean are badly damaged.

However, during the visit, no such personnel could be seen anywhere on the site.

A few weeks ago, following a lengthy process, the government announced that Camp Santo – a joint venture formed by Polidano Brothers Limited, Camray Company Limited and Mario Tonna – had been awarded a 15-year concession for €15.1 million for works on the cemetery.

The concessionaire will be responsible for revamping the Addolorata and tasked with restoring parts of the complex, as well as its operations and maintenance and landscaping the entire cemetery and the possible commercialisation of the process.

Once the upgrade is completed, the government is expected to rake in about €7 million from the sale of new graves, since it has raised prices from €5,000 to €8,000 each, earning a profit of some 35 per cent from the creation of 2,880 new graves.

Only a few benches are available at the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery and most of them are broken.