Private partners will be roped in to contribute to the regeneration of Grand Harbour, Investment, Industry and Information Technology Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.

He was speaking to councillors from localities in the Grand Harbour area during the first consultation meeting on the recently announced vision for the harbour.

Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg gave a brief introduction to the consultation meeting, saying there were other individual projects that the government had carried out in the Grand Harbour area, but this vision was intended to regenerate the whole area in a holistic manner, so the local councils had a big role to play in this regard.

Dr Gatt said that by means of the consultation process, which will draw to a close at the end of November or the beginning of December, the government wants to improve its vision and implement it successfully.

He said the government intends to create a new economic centre that would be an attraction in itself, so the vision was not only intended to be in the best interest of the country, but also for the good of the communities living in the whole area.

“We want to make the best use of the limited space available, while respecting cultural heritage and generating strong economic activity,” he said, before giving councillors a brief presentation of the 20 projects that are intended to focus on the harbour’s various dimensions – from tourism to industry, the environment and maritime aspects.

Dr Gatt said that by contributing to the local communities in the Grand Harbour area, the government’s private partners will be contributing to a number of initiatives that reflect their Corporate Social Responsibility. In a statement issued following yesterday’s consultation meeting, the ministry said the mayors that participated in the meeting all expressed their support for the planned projects.

Among the issues raised by the mayors during the meeting were high population density and problems related to traffic management in the Grand Harbour area.

They also spoke about the socio-economic impacts of the project and the investment that the projects would bring about. In the coming 10 weeks or so, the government will carry out a number of other meetings with different organisations interested in the project.