A wholly new destination for those seeking evening and weekend dinners will be on offer by mid-summer, with no less than six new restaurants opening at the newly-restored Valletta Waterfront in the Pinto Stores.
Attractive during the day with the cruise liner passengers, the restored open air space in front of the Pinto Stores will be ideal to eat out with the vista of Cottonera across the sea.
Right in front of them they will also have the laguna, a reflecting lake which may be used later on for boat shows and the like.
The first phase of the Valletta Waterfront project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi together with VISET Chairman, Joseph Grioli on Friday. The fully restored and landscaped Pinto Wharf, including the newly created laguna purposely built to reveal Valletta’s historic sea wall, is now open for both the public and cruise liner passengers to enjoy.
Other shops opening up in the Pinto Stores include a large bookshop and a toy shop.
As shown on Friday, live music just adds something to the atmosphere without being too intrusive.
While more and more cruise liners are expected this year and, as Mr Grioli said, even next year, it will not be so easy to enlarge capacity so that Malta gets 750,000 cruise passengers a year, as Labour leader Alfred Sant has been urging, Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett said yesterday. Speaking on Radio 101, he said that the quays have to be lengthened as VISET can only take three passenger ships at present and any more than that will be anchored at the Deep Water Quay where the environment is not right to welcome passengers in.
Mr Mugliett confirmed that the cable car project is off (see centre pages) but claimed that this has spurred VISET to seek other solutions to linking the waterfront to Valletta.
Alternatives include a new edition of the lift, a funicolare in the same site, and escalators. Cabinet is due to decide this week which solution does it favour.
Following the completion of this first phase of this Lm10 million project, VISET is now focusing its attention on the completion of work at Forni Stores, which once fully restored and rebuilt will be reopened as a retail centre. Work on this aspect of the project is due to be completed this coming October. Once fully completed the Valletta Waterfront project is expected to result in the creation of some 400 new jobs.
Throughout the coming summer a number of cultural activities will also be taking place at the Valletta Waterfront, making the most of the natural beauty of Grand Harbour as well as the magnificent manmade backdrop provided by the fortifications, which surround it. In July, these activities will include a representation of Bernstein’s opera Candide, literary evenings, modern dance and classical ballet shows.