We knew that they looked ugly on the outside, but this week we found out that they look equally ugly on the inside.

We are speaking, of course, about the hideous kiosks installed at City Gate earlier this year. For those who have not entered Valletta recently, these kiosks look more like brown shipping containers.

There are ten of them, and they cost €40,000 a pop. They were designed by a Spanish company through a direct order by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation.

These kiosks were given to the owners of the old kiosks that were removed as part of a project aimed at regenerating and embellishing the area. That project was very welcome, for it obliterated the old bus terminus and the unattractive shops and bus shelters that once stood there. It also saw the full restoration of the Tritons fountain – which turned from a polluted roundabout for buses into the centre of attraction of the square.

The only real criticism when the square was completed was that many of the mature trees that once lined the inward side of the square, overlooking the ditch below, were chopped down so that people walking into Valletta could “take in” the view of the capital city’s bastions. There is today not a shred of shade in the expansive plaza, and people have been seen just this week using umbrellas to shield their faces from the glaring sun. But let us not get into the issue of the trees again today - we have written much about that already and will probably be writing much more in the days to come.

The completed square was officially inaugurated in a lavish ceremony and was appreciated en masse during the V18 opening celebrations shortly after.

Then it all started going backwards. First came the Styrofoam figures – tacky sculptures signifying Maltese ‘idioms.’ The ‘artistic’ installations commissioned by the V18 Foundation drew immediate fire and most fell victim to vandalism.

Then came the Malta Fashion Awards, which saw large advertising structures obstruct a significant part of the square. At least these were removed after the event.

Then, at the end of April people walking into Valletta were greeted by the unsightly appearance of the container-like kiosks.  

The first one of these kiosks opened for business this week, and boy it was not a pretty sight - from the way the front of the structure opens up like a car boot door to the way the products are haphazardly displayed inside. It feels like the visual situation in Tritons Square has gone back to square one –that the main aim of the embellishment project has been defeated. The tackiness is back.

A number of questions come to mind, the main one being: is this really the best we could do? Who was responsible for choosing the design, and by a direct order, no less?

Why do we spend millions from taxpayer money on an embellishment project only to go ahead and ruin it with some tacky furniture? What is the whole point of such projects if we’re simply going from one level of tacky to another?

Also, why do we need TEN of these kiosks? Do that many hungry people walk into and out of Valletta every day? It is not as if there are no snack shops and restaurants in the capital. If we really have to have kiosks in the square, why not have two, or four? Why ten?

Perhaps the most important question is: when will these containers be removed and replaced with something less offensive, if at all?