Creativity Overdose

 30^th November 2007
The Malta Independent - Friday Wisdom

It is turning into a creativity overdose. The strategic plans published by both the government and the opposition for the development of the Valletta harbour and surrounding zone, is matching the anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better game of promises about goodies to be dished out by each side if elected.

At least we are being told not only how to spend it, but also how to earn it. The problem, however, is that both parties are setting dead lines for execution which stretch well beyond the next legislature.

The PN puts the arrival date on their time line as 2015, meaning they need two legislatures to deliver, giving them almost uninterrupted tenure of office, stretching 28 years. Labour on the other hand give their dateline delivery year as 2020, meaning they would need three electoral terms to complete the project.

I have nothing against long-term planning. But in a fast changing world it is often of dubious value to make plans stretching so far into the future. The political parties would be more credible if they publish which elements of their plans will get priority for execution within the next legislature, as, after all, the electorate will choose a government for five years. No one should assume re-election down the line.

And of the greatest priority, I hope, would be a very promising initiative in Labour’s document about the City Gate bus terminus. Quoting verbatim this reads: “This project will also include the transfer underground of the City Gate bus terminus …creating a pedestrian area from the Malls Gardens right to the City centre”.

If we do anything, we have to do this project. The present bus terminus and surrounding kiosks are an insult to the World Heritage Site that is Valletta. Irrespective of whether the existing City Gate is appropriate or not for a walled city, what is certainly inappropriate is having its main pedestrian access point a perfectly organised confusion, with pedestrians criss-crossing among moving buses. The kiosks, with merchandise overflowing onto the pavement and often covered or protected by wind breakers – more appropriate for fields rather than for retailing outlets in a prime area – are a display of shabbiness and proof of poor standards.

I just returned from Salzburg where I could admire the cute wooden stalls erected in perfect order side by side to create a temporary Christmas Market in the city centre. For a market lasting a handful of weeks, Salzburg organises perfectly designed and uniform stalls. For kiosks being used day in day out in our City entrance, we have no power of persuasion or measures of discipline to impose a uniform and organised approach.

Less appealing is Labour’s proposal to develop the Royal Theatre site into an office building for financial services, to create a financial district in the area comprising the Stock Exchange and the Central Bank.
Valletta is appropriate to be a city for the citizen, not for business. A financial district attracting international business would have little inter-action with either the Stock Exchange or the Central Bank. More likely their interaction would be with MFSA as regulator, located on the Mriehel by pass.

It makes little sense to load further traffic and parking stress on Valletta, by adding business traffic to the private commercial attractions which draw huge crowds to Valletta each day. If we succeed in attracting business to form an international financial district, then its ideal location would be the site presently occupied by the Marsa power station, due to go out of business by 2015. On the SmartCity model it should be possible to attract PPP interest to develop this site and give a soul to the inner harbour area.

The Royal Theatre site ought to be developed into a project which meets the needs of the residents and tourists that daily throng in Valletta. Primarily for tourists, especially the cruise line visitors who are here for only a few hours and have no real opportunity to get to know us, it would be ideal if we could mount a visual display of our unique collection of prehistoric temples and cultural treasures there. The purpose would be to whet their appetite for a longer visit.

Rather than house complete government departments like the Inland Revenue, as Labour propose, this site should embody customer service points of the various government departments and national entities, giving us a single building where people can get a complete service without having to go from east to west and north to south. With Social Services department just across the road, a building servicing passports, ID cards, income tax enquiries and education department services would go a long way in offering a focused service point releasing many other buildings to house more appropriate cultural and commercial activities. I would even tolerate the housing of the parliament building here if it released precious space in the Presidential palace for more appropriate touristic and cultural uses.

Before spreading ourselves too thin in a multitude of projects stretching over several legislatures, we need to focus on the urgent work needed to give Valletta the pedestrian access it deserves and to render it a city for the people.