The Grand Harbour has serviced Malta for a great many years. Perhaps, in a historical context, the safe natural harbour is most known for its role in Malta’s two sieges, 1565 and in World War II.

The Grand Harbour also used to be Malta’s great trading hub, pre-war, and post-war. The hubbub of activity saw the place teeming with ships, boats and traders of all kinds. Water taxis went to and fro between the three cities and Valletta, and ships bearing coal, oil and food all berthed in the same places that are still in use today.

This week, Valletta Cruise Ports announced that 78,253 passengers arrived in the month of July – a 50 % increase over the same period last year. In fact, the whole year so far has seen increased numbers with a total of 279,910 cruise passenger arrivals in the first six months – a 9% increase over 2010.

The local cruise liner industry has most definitely benefited from the turmoil of North Africa, and no matter how politically correct one tries to be, the uprisings there have led cruise lines to swap North African destinations for Malta.

There has been significant investment in the Grand Harbour over the years, and the Valletta Waterfront Complex, is the best testimony of this. Over the years, €26 million was spent on upgrading the Deep Water Quay, €500,000 on Lascaris Wharf, €500,000 on Boiler Wharf, €1 million on the breakwater and more.

Cruise liners are becoming larger and larger. Each new ship is always bigger and houses more people – sometimes over 5,000. This, of course, leads to the need for more extensive infrastructure. This has been done, and while perhaps, the aesthetic side was delayed, the investment and results are there for all to see.

One must take the investment into context. The eventual plan is to have a continuous waterfront from Valletta to the Three Cities. Work has already commenced to upgrade the road into Marsa, and plans are afoot for development of Dock 1 and other sites in Cospicua. Of course, one cannot forget the ongoing development of the Vittoriosa Waterfront.

But there is one very large stumbling block, and that is Marsa. The power station is still in operation, and although there are plans to shut it down, it seems that this process is taking far too long. Without eliminating the power station, the plan for a continuous waterfront cannot materialize. Valletta’s waterfront used to be home to many small businesses. These all packed up and left, to be replaced with higher end shops, a mall and restaurants.

But will the same happen in Marsa? What on earth do the authorities plan to do with, for example, the Open Centre? What about all the light industrial businesses in the area? The idea is good, but clearly there is a lot left to be done. One understands that the whole operation will be done in stages, expanding out of Valletta and the Three Cities, but Marsa still remains. It is a big, dirty and smelly problem. Cleaning and dredging Menqa will take huge amounts of work, as will improving the roads and services in Marsa – they are terrible. By the end of it, we will have a gem of a project and a huge attraction which could see cruise tourists enjoying either side of the Grand Harbour. But, this cannot be done before a holistic plan is developed for the Marsa area.