Revaluing Valletta

22^nd June 2007

The Malta Independent - Friday Wisdom

 

The new traffic restrictions applicable for accessing and parking within our City are literally a fresh breath of air permitting visitors to really enjoy the place as it should be enjoyed by walking its streets.

It is certainly a welcome step in the effort to polish up Valletta’s image and attractions but certainly there is a lot yet that needs to be done to come anywhere near to a satisfactory position.

Take the dismal bazaar at City Gate entrance that continues to prevail. No one seems concerned that the entrance should make the first imprint of quality that our capital city deserves. It begs explanation why more complicated issues like traffic and parking systems get addressed but simpler issues like the access to our main entrance continues to be neglected.

I am not referring to the endless argument whether City Gate should be replaced by something more appropriate for a fortified city. And I am not referring either to whether we should rebuild the Opera House as a replica of the previous one destroyed during the war or whether we should re-develop the site into something which bears the mark of the 21st century. These are too big arguments which need vision and enterprise which we do not seem to have.

I am talking of much smaller affairs, of things that should take little effort to execute with little or no budgetary investment. Mostly it is a question of imposing discipline.

Try walking as I do every working day over the bridge into City Gate and you will know what I mean. To make it over to City Gate over the bridge one has to negotiate one’s way through a maze of merchandise overflowing onto the street from the kiosks, through lined up white taxis, standby horse cabs, stalls incredibly set up right in the passage way of the side entrances of the Gate creating maximum obstruction, and at times even supply vans parked over the bridge as a standby source of supplies of merchandise to the stalls.

I have no idea of who is authorised to do what at that place. What is worse however is that the police and other law enforcing officers that ply the area many times a day have no idea either. Otherwise they seem to have no interest in enforcing any discipline and wardens are more interested in booking any unauthorised parking in the resident spaces rather than in bringing some sort of order to the entrance of our City.

I shudder to think what first impressions the place makes on the tourist groups that are guided into the City each and every morning, especially the groups who spend a just a few hours with us during their Mediterranean cruises.

Equally disturbing is the chaotic arrangement for the bus terminus just outside City Gate. The approach to the main gate of the City deserves a more tranquil and inviting environment permitting the visitor to marvel with the magnificence of our bastions rather than having to negotiate one’s life with a handful of bus and coach drivers as one crosses over from the Floriana side of the triton fountain to the bridge leading to City Gate.

With hand tools in the 16th century our forefathers dug out the ditches to fortify Valletta with masterful bastions. With modern excavation equipment it would in comparison be child’s play to excavate an underground terminus and shopping mall facilities in order to keep the surface ground clear of the chaotic transport razzmatazz and bazaar-like trade kiosks and stalls. Just imagine coming up from an escalator somewhere near or beside the triton fountain and looking at the Valletta main entrance manicured with gusto landscaping permitting pleasant and unobstructed access to City while admiring its inimitable architecture.

First impressions count. They give a brand mark which flavours the rest of the visitors experience inside the City walls. If one starts with a bad first impression the remaining marvels inside the City will have to struggle to leave their deserved mark on the visitor. On the contrary a favourable first impression helps the visitor to overlook our other defects and enhances his appreciation of the rest of the City’s experience.

Now that we seem to have tackled successfully the access, traffic and parking arrangements in Valletta, is it not time to further revalue its image by making small investments and enforcing discipline in order to enrich the experience of pedestrian access to our capital city?