The government believes that embellishment projects in village cores are the best way to highlight the architectural and cultural heritage that this country possesses, said Infrastructure and Resources Minister Ninu Zammit yesterday.

Mr Zammit made the comments during a visit to the recently embellished Qrendi village core yesterday.

The work included new paving for the church parvis, resurfacing the main road leading into Qrendi and the laying of new pavements in the village core. He also said that to get the best out of the church, it was decided that the lamp posts would be removed and replaced with an uplighter system.

He said the work complemented other projects which had been carried out in the village square, ensuring uniformity in design and materials used. In addition, discussions took place with Enemalta to ensure that power cables were passed underground. The total cost of the project, which was carried out entirely by government employees, was about Lm150,000.

There were other projects carried out in Qrendi, said Mr Zammit, including the restoration of the St Rocque and St Mary statues as well as the Our Lady of Graces chapel. To complement these, he said, a one-kilometre promenade was being built from Wied iz-Zurrieq to the megalithic temples at Hagar Qim.

Mr Zammit said that the government believed in preserving and restoring our heritage while at the same time improving people’s quality of life by embellishing Malta.