Plans for public garden in Valletta ditch shelved

Plans for a public garden in the Valletta ditch have been shelved until the completion of the new parliament building, and the government has so far given no feedback on plans submitted by the Renzo Piano workshop to turn the ditch into a public garden.

“Focus is entirely on the completion of the Parliament building at the moment. Once parliament is operating from the new building, the focus will be turned to the ditch and other related projects,” a spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi told MaltaToday.

In December 2013 a spokesperson for the ministry had confirmed the government was reviewing plans for a public garden under city gate.

This review was being made together with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) who were responsible for the master plan of City Gate.

But Antonio Belvedere, from the workshop, told MaltaToday that no feedback was given by the government on these plans.

“I haven’t heard any news on this item… I hope one day we will be able to complete also this part of the scheme,” Belvedere told MaltaToday when contacted this week.

In a reply to a parliamentary question in July 2013, Joe Mizzi announced that the government had scrapped plans for a public garden in the ditch under City Gate to save €1.9 million.

But in December MaltaToday revealed that the government was consulting with acclaimed architect Renzo Piano’s firm to come up with a less expensive design.

On that occasion Belvedere – a partner in Piano’s workshop – made it clear that one of the project’s aims was still that of creating a public garden in that portion of the ditch falling in the city gate site boundary, between the St James and St John Cavalier branches of the fortifications.

In December a spokesperson for Mizzi confirmed that the ministry was reviewing plans for the Valletta ditch under City Gate. “This review is being made together with Renzo Piano Building Workshop who were responsible for the master plan of city gate.”

On his part, Belvedere insisted that there was “no plan to divert from our original scheme, which has been approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority”.

The objective of the current discussions with the government is to review the construction cost “to make the scheme affordable”.

According to Belvedere, the portion of the ditch between the St James and St John Cavalier branches is the most important because the two branches are visible from the city gate bridge, and belong holistically to the overall scheme.

The construction of reservoirs to store rainwater, for use as second-class water in the new parliament, has not been affected by the change in plans.

MaltaToday is informed that one of the options which was being considered by the government was that of asphalting the ditch, to use it as a public car park, as had been done in the past.