PN MP Karl Gouder highlighted the rise in spending on salaries within Heritage Malta, during a debate in Parliament regarding the financial estimates for Heritage Malta and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

According to the Financial estimates, €5.5 million was spent on salaries in 2015, yet in 2016 this is estimated to rise to €7.2 million, and then €7.6 million in 2017.

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici mentioned that the reason for this rise was that newly opened sites had to be manned by employees, as an example, mentioning Fort St Elmo. He said that the process for finding personnel is transparent and that an internal call is first made, and if no suitable applicants come forward, then a call is made through the ETC.

Heritage Malta generated €9.9 million last year, the Minister said, expressing his pride, and proceeded to mention the work done by the organisation, including the €13 million investment in Fort St Angelo which was inaugurated in October, adding that it was praised by Heads of State, as well as Fort St Elmo that was used as the media hub for the Valletta Summit. He also said that 1,300 consultations took place last year, including with MEPA, Transport Malta and others

Turning to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, he described them as the police who safeguard Maltese heritage. He stressed that no matter where you dig, you are likely to find some form of heritage artefact.

He explained that many foreigners come to Malta to see the country's history. "Maintaining heritage sites is not easy," he said.

He stressed the need for more employees within the Superintendence. "Our aim was, as government, to increase the human resources in the Superintendence. It cannot be that, whenever you have a project where some form of cultural artefact would be found, then the project would end up frozen due to the lack of personnel within the superintendence". There is an ongoing process to increase the number of case officers, he said.

"We removed the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee from MEPA and placed it with the Superintendence," he said, in order to improve synergy.

The Minister mentioned that government was extremely careful in the separation of MEPA not to result in any failings for the superintendence. 

He highlighted that when something negative occurs, like the Castille façade issue, then the superintendence is blamed, yet the superintendence is never praised when lots of good occurs.

In 2015, the superintendence saw a total of 224 new cases monitored, 70 over the previous year.

While the opposition agreed with the importance of the institutions and did recognise the importance of the work these institutions conduct, the opposition still criticised certain ongoings. PN MP Karl Gouder said that Maltese heritage is "our responsibility to care for, in order to preserve it for future generations". He said he has no doubt that good work has been done. He agreed with the minister on giving initiatives for parents to take children to see heritage sites.

He criticised the reduction in travel spending for these officials, explaining that most of their travels are educational.

The PN MP also highlighted that the number of people who visited Heritage Malta sites grew, however school trips reduced.  Responding to this, Minister Bonnici said that that this was due to Skola Sajf taking children to different sites last year, however would return to Heritage Malta sites this year.

PN MP Frederick Azzopardi mentioned the restoration of the Gozo Citadel. This work, he said, began eight years ago when the Master Plan was created. "This plan also addressed the use of land, management of traffic, infrastructure and services etc.".

He appealed for Citadel works to conclude without more delays." Around 700,000 tourists come to view this historical monument," he said, adding that thousands each month are not taking a good impression away with them since the project is not yet concluded, "even though it was meant to conclude last year". "This is also resulting in the loss of EU funds since the work did not conclude in the planned time-frame".

PN MP Censu Galea said that every village in Malta has some form of cultural site and said that all children should, at the very least, be taken to see those areas in their localities.