Souvenir shop owners in St John Street in Valletta are facing an uncertain future as the government intends to throw them out of the property as part of a restructuring project at St John’s Cathedral area in the Maltese capital.

Last April, the souvenir shop owners adjacent to the Cathedral received a letter informing them that they had to pack their items and leave the shop by 30 June (last Thursday). The letter was send by the court through the Lands Department.

Sources who spoke with this newspaper explained that the rent is paid for every six months. 

Shop owners have arranged for an appointment with the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, Dr Deborah Schembri, to discuss the issue. The meeting is expected to be held in the coming days.

A shop owner who spoke to The Malta Independent said that they cannot plan ahead, not even to buy stuff for the shop because of the uncertainty.

The reason for the government’s decision is that the authorities want to take the whole block which surrounds the Cathedral in Valletta. The government plans to take over four shops which sit in the area. However, as this newsroom is informed, the final plan still includes the setting up of other shops, including a cafeteria.

Speaking to this newsroom, shop owners feel that if they are forced to leave, they should at last get compensation.

“We are not against the project but we are facing discrimination. Monti stall owners have been given their due compensation, even kiosk owners. Why are should we be treated differently?”

When these shop owners tried to approach the government to solve the issue, they were told that the property they sit on also belongs to the St John Cathedral Foundation.

Monti stall owners were given a compensation of €80,000 for giving up their monti licence. In this way, the government had managed to reduce the number of monti hawkers by half before the relocation to ordinance street takes place.

Even tenants of shops in Freedom Square were handed a financial compensation of around €1.7 million between them so that they make room for Renzo Piano’s City Gate project. They had received between €75,000 and €200,000 each.

The land on which the shops in St John Street sit belongs to the government. Some of these shops have been rented since 1917. Shop owners have filed a court application to stop the process through three different lawyers.

A spokesperson for GRTU has told this newspaper that they met, together with a representative from the Lands Department and from the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning to discuss the matter. This meeting was held some two months ago.  

It appears that the government mentioned the possibility of having these shops moved to other premises; however shop owners have not heard anything from the authorities so far.