The application is being prepared and is to be submitted along with the plan for the city drawn up by the government and the Mdina Rehabilitation Project. It is understood that it takes around two years for such an application to be processed.

Mdina is currently undergoing an extensive paving project which, according to Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit, is well on target and due to be completed by the end of next summer.

Touring the work under way at the Silent City – which, because of the trucks and other machinery, is not so silent anymore – the minister expressed his satisfaction with the way the project has gone so far.

He explained that 12 streets, including the narrow stretches, have already been paved – a total of 2,300 square metres. Moreover, electricity and telephone cables, and those of Melita Cable, have been passed underneath the new paving. To make repair work easier in the future, the project also included 600 manholes.

The project, which was started in May, is well on schedule, said Mr Zammit. He explained that there are three contractors working on different phases of the project. One contractor is responsible for excavations, another for the laying of the foundations and the third one is responsible for laying the new paving, which was imported from Sicily. The project is estimated to be costing a total of Lm1 million.

Mr Zammit said the Mdina project is only one of many projects being undertaken by his ministry. Among other important projects, he mentioned the restoration of the aqueducts, Cwejra Chapel in Siggiewi, the Sarria Church in Floriana, St James chapel in Luqa and the Italian Chapel in St John’s co-cathedral.

Other projects which have already been concluded, he said, include the Upper Barrakka Gardens, various chapels in Zurrieq and Valletta and the Inquisitor’s Palace in Cospicua, among others.