Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar yesterday called for the immediate resignation of the members of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation.

Research carried out by FAA, it said, has revealed that the foundation’s plans to develop an underground museum got underway before 2006. This has serious implications in that for two years, this major expenditure on Malta’s premier public monument was never revealed to the public by the foundation, nor presented in electoral manifestos. It also indicates that the plans to excavate most of St John’s Street and Square in front of the cathedral were already known before the re-paving of St John’s Street and Merchants’ Street at great public expense.

The reports drawn up by some of Malta’s foremost heritage experts, who were not hitherto revealed, do not mince their words with regard to the high risk of damage that the project could cause:

It quotes:

1. October 2006 – “The Heritage Advisory Committee unanimously agrees with the concern of Joe Magro Conti, Head, Mepa Integrated Heritage Management Unit about the negative impacts of this project, principally, the clear risk to the structure of the cathedral caused by the considerable excavation proposed near the cathedral, the precedent created for similar requests in the immediate vicinity, and the risk of disturbing historic and archaeological remains in the area to be excavated.”

Signed: Perit Michael Ellul, Vice-Chairman, HAC

2. December 2006 – Comments by HAC: “HAC is however very much concerned that this very large underground museum will create problems both because of the excavation itself (finds, underground tunnels, services, base of buildings etc) but also because of what will happen during the course of the work in the central part of the city.

HAC is very concerned with the effect that the excavations may have on the cathedral structure in general and on its paintings and other fabric in particular.

Signed: Dr Albert Ganado, Chairman, HAC

3. August 2007 – Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee to Mepa Director General.

The committee, together with IHM, are of the opinion that any excavation in the immediate surroundings of the cathedral is extremely dangerous to the structural stability of the cathedral itself, and the proposal is therefore not acceptable. The committee feels that the sacred nature of the cemetery should be safeguarded and respected and that the proposed uses are not compatible with the important historical and religious nature of the site.

Michael Ellul, Vice-Chairman, HAC

FAA added: “It is to be pointed out that these reports are reflected in the strong objections to the project submitted to Mepa on the part of the Church Commission for Cultural Heritage and the Cathedral Chapter of Monsignors, signed by Mgr Lawrence Cachia, who is also a foundation director.”

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar said it is extremely perplexed by the foundation’s decision to ignore the reports highlighting the project’s strong risks to the cathedral drawn up by the heritage authorities, who include some of Malta’s most respected heritage architects. The foundation is determined to spend e150,000 on an EIA in an attempt to press ahead with its project, irrespective of geology expert statements that geological studies in a built-up area are not conclusive due to rock fissures remaining concealed and subsequently subsiding once excavations begin, resulting in cracks to the walls of St. John’s and damage to the artistic marble paving.

The foundation’s decision to press on regardless of the risks to the structural stability of the cathedral indicates a shocking lack of responsibility on the part of the foundation, as does its failure to bring this project to the attention of the public over a span of two years. Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar finds this cavalier attitude towards Malta’s most precious public monument unacceptable.