Azzjoni Nazzjonali yesterday presented a master plan containing 34 proposals for Valletta and Floriana, which included the rebuilding of City Gate, a new Parliament, Royal Opera House, four underground car parks and a waterway passing through Sciberras Hill, all of which would take 10 years to implement.
AN deputy leader Anglu Xuereb illustrated the plan which included plans he had proposed in 1989 and 2004. He said he was glad that the government had implemented some of his suggestions, including the paving of Republic Street and St John’s Street, the park and ride scheme and circular bus routes.
Mr Xuereb said Valletta was a world heritage site which did not have a fitting entrance to it. He said that City Gate should be demolished right away and Maltese architects be asked to submit plans for a suitable main entrance to the Maltese capital while the bus terminus would be placed underground, below its present site.
“The first thing you see once you enter City Gate,” said Mr Xuereb, “is a dirty open space reserved for parking, next to which there is the only World War II damaged building in Europe that has not yet been rebuilt.”
He envisaged an underground car park beneath Freedom Square with entrance at St James Ditch, the rebuilding of the Royal Opera House to its former glory on the outside, while on the inside it should serve as a multi purpose building. He proposed an embellished square with a statue of Grand Master La Valette at its centre. “Shamefully enough, there is not a single statue erected in honour of the man after whom the city has been named,” said Mr Xuereb.
The former Naxxar mayor proposed that the buildings in front of St James Cavalier, facing Freedom Square, should be cleared in order to construct a fitting entrance to the building.
The AN master plan provides for the pulling down of Evans Building and the construction of a hotel that would be flanked by the Mediterranean Conference Centre on one side and luxurious office space on the other. He said the St Elmo Examination Centre would be turned into office space for the purpose. AN proposed pulling all ministries and government departments out of Valletta and centralising them at nearby Beltissebh, while the public library would be moved to the current premises of the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry, Palazzo Ferreria.
Mr Xuereb proposed that Parliament would be housed at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital and the Palace turned into a National Museum, while palace square would be turned into a fitting setting of the former magisterial palace.