As the appraisal side of the Renzo Piano project for the entrance to Valletta goes ahead, the commercial community in Valletta is expressing concern at the reduced number of parking spaces that are bound to endanger the existence of retailing in the capital city, our sister business newspaper, The Malta Business Weekly, reported this week.
Reginald Fava, in his role as chairman of the Economic Group for Importers, Distributors and Retailers within the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, together with the GRTU and the Republic Street Business Community Association, has set up a committee to assess the problems being created by the Piano city gate project.
“We will be holding meetings with the authorities to minimise the negative impact of this project on the business community and to find a just and equitable solution for all the shop-owners who currently have their premises in Freedom Square. Business has fallen drastically and the removal of the Freedom Square and Yellow Garage parking spaces will spell the death knell for business. It also has to be kept in mind that the importation, retailing and wholesaling sector is the largest employment sector in Malta. We really cannot afford another body blow, when taking the international economic situation in context. This country cannot afford to create obstacles through self-induced problems, because the situation is bad enough as it is,” he told the newspaper.
Speaking in his capacity as Chemimart Group chairman, Reginald Fava, who also happens to have a pharmacy in the City Gate arcades that will need to be vacated by the end of the year, said that a recent letter received from the Lands Department indicates that the government has accepted the principle of compensation for shop-owners in the area.
“We recently received a letter from the Lands Department informing us that our lease will be terminated at the end of the year and that we will be entering into discussions on compensation. Additionally, I wish to make it clear that we had a lease contract for the outlet for a 16-year period and not a lease that was renewable every six months, as reported in other newspapers. The letter states that this is being done in the public interest, so there is very little one can do. However, this letter is positive because initially I was angry at the government’s approach because I had to learn from my employees that our outlet was to be demolished. I am not interested in compensation but I want alternative premises for the company’s pharmacy, through which we provide a service to the public. Everyone knows what the regulations for pharmacies are and thus we have to have an outlet in precisely the same area and not in another part of Valletta.”
Mr Fava said that discussions would now be entered into with the Lands Department to plan the way forward. He also revealed that a committee has been established by the shop-owners in the area to assess the impact of the Piano project on business in Valletta.
“Since the CVA was introduced, retail business has fallen dramatically. The Piano plans, which will apparently do away with thousands of parking spaces, is bound to spell the end for the capital’s business. The situation is already precarious, with the removal of parking from St George’s Square, and if the Freedom Square parking is removed, without first creating an alternative, the situation will obviously take a turn for the worse. We should have built a multi-storey car park below Freedom Square with accessibility via lifts to the surface but, as usual in this country, we put the cart before the horse.”