A new, and welcome, civil society action group that aims to highlight the issues plaguing the Cottonera area and its people made its public debut yesterday morning, and came down hard on the state of affairs in the Three Cities of Senglea, Vittoriosa and Cospicua, which, together with Kalkara, comprise what is known as Cottonera.

The group, the Friends of Cottonera Forum, along with Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, said yesterday that it “cannot comprehend the logic behind the long-term planning for the Three Cities on the part of the government and other authorities”.

Friends of Cottonera Forum spokesperson Keith Caruana commented at a press conference yesterday morning, “The lack of holistic planning is especially evident after the sour experience of the Dock 1 project currently underway. You all know what the locals have had to endure.

“It is ridiculous to plan projects of this scale, and here I am referring to the Birgu and Bormla waterfronts, which aim to attract more people to this area, without providing parking facilities. These are important and positive projects if implemented properly, however we cannot understand how we can attract significant numbers of visitors without any prospect of a public car park.

“These projects cannot be called sustainable as in the long term people would be discouraged to visit the area due to lack of parking facilities and thus the area might again experience a downturn and lose its appeal. Funds invested would have been wasted. This problem is already being experienced in other areas where for example people think twice before visiting shops in Valletta and Sliema.

“They might similarly be put off the restaurants and attractions of the Three Cities. This also creates friction between the different communities; locals and visitors, or residents and businesses when in order for this project to be successful we need the various stakeholders to co-exist in harmony.”

The group believes that incentives for commercial investment in the Cottonera area are required.

“We understand that there will be some retail outlets in the Dock 1 warehouses. However, will there be a glaring difference between the retail outlets on that side and the ones existing right now on the other side? Could there be an initiative that would help locals upgrade their outlets and therefore be able to compete?” Mr Caruana questioned yesterday.

The group also called for a tourism policy for Cottonera “that would be embedded within the parameters of the National Tourism Policy”. Cottonera, the group observed, is undeveloped as far as tourism is concerned and as such it was the “perfect place” to plan a sustainable tourism industry aiming to attract high-end and cultural tourists to the area.

Malta, the group said, has become an urban jungle with few green open spaces. Cospicua, however, has such spaces, such as that near St Helen’s Gate.

“The green space already exists and during the previous legislature some work was carried out, but we believe that with a bit of imagination this can be easily transformed into an attractive park,” the group observed, adding that there were other open spaces in urgent need of attention, such as St Nicholas Garden on top of the Ghajn Dwieli tunnel.”

The group called for the warehouses at Dock 1 to be used as a display area of local culture and crafts and for at least parts of the warehouses in question to be properly restored by returning them as closely as possible to their original state.

Dock 1, the group suggested, could be an extension to the Maritime Museum and be planned along lines similar to the Vasa Museum of Stockholm. “We know that the authorities have been approached with such ideas but we do not know if any conclusions have been reached,” Mr Caruana said.

The Friends of Cottonera Forum maintained that “the best approach for the sustainable development of Cottonera is not the present piecemeal and haphazard plans but developments where local residents have a leading role, development that truly focuses on future needs in a holistic manner”.