Just under 10 years ago when I was still the Executive President of Din l-Art Ħelwa, I presented a paper to a forum at St James’ Cavalier entitled ‘Valletta: A City Betrayed’, in which I argued that in the previous half century successive governments of Malta had largely neglected that once beautiful baroque city. I wondered aloud what kind of a people we were that spurned such a legacy. Why were we allowing it to decay?

I argued that there was one necessary ingredient missing before the commitment and flow of resources in the direction of Valletta reflected the priority it deserved. That key ingredient was political will. Our politicians had for too long only paid lip-service to the needs of Valletta, and that had to change.

But hard on the heels of political will came good organisation. I argued that all the key factors affecting future action on Valletta turned ultimately on coordinated government action. Fort St Elmo, City Gate, the bastions and fortifications, Freedom Square, the Opera House and Parliament, all these aspects lay in government hands. This was a national problem – a national challenge that required focused, high profile national solutions.

I therefore recommended that there had to be better organisation of the machinery of government with a view to creating a more focused structure for Valletta – a clearer chain of command and accountability. There should be one ministerial ‘supremo’ for Valletta, who would be given direct responsibility for the City, with over-arching control over other departments and the ability to knock heads together and to coordinate matters.

This in essence is what happened very soon after my talk. Although not officially the ‘Minister for Valletta’, Dr Austin Gatt, a son of Valletta and a Member of Parliament elected from that district, has effectively taken on this role. He has successfully got things moving.

In terms of what I described 10 years ago as the “bread and butter issues” there has been considerable progress. These had to be tackled first if the appearance and day-to-day quality of life of Valletta were to improve. The cat’s cradle of telephone wires and other wiring have been removed. While not yet perfect, the lack of cleanliness and shabbiness of Valletta’s streets have been improved. Rubbish pick-up points are more liberally located around the city and cleared with greater frequency and thoroughness. Many roads have been attractively re-paved. Others are in the process of being done.

Moving on to the bigger issues. St George’s Square is superb. One could carp at the lighting, but overall the square has been re-invigorated and the completion of the cleaning of the facade of the President’s Palace makes it the centre-piece again of Valletta. Many of the palazzos and auberges have been cleaned and are beautifully flood-lit at night. St John’s Co-Cathedral is a gem. Our Lady of Victory Church is under-going a renaissance under the outstanding care of Din l-Art Ħelwa. The four public gardens have been restored and are again a great asset to the enjoyment of Valletta. The pedestrianisation of Merchants Street and Republic Street is a great success. In a city which is only about nine hundred metres long and five hundred metres wide, greater pedestrianisation should be possible and desirable. The tyranny of the motor car needs to be tamed.

A number of bread-and butter issues remain outstanding. Street lighting needs to be improved. The upkeep of balconies, so redolent of the typical Valletta street-scape, must be actively encouraged. The signage to all the historic sites in Valletta, and indeed the sites themselves should be uniformly done and uniformly attractive. Broken pavements (where they have not been replaced by re-paved roads) still remain a hazard to the unwary pedestrian.

One major problem remains. Parking facilities around the city are inadequate. Yet any further move towards pedestrianisation can only succeed if parking spaces around the periphery are substantially increased. This is an aspect of the newly-invigorated Valletta which I have been describing to which greater attention must be paid.

As to the mega-projects, this government has finally shown the decisiveness and determination to tackle the opera-house site – the first government in 70 years to do so – together with the whole City Gate, Freedom Square, bus station nexus. These formed an eye-sore of the ugliest proportions – a major stain on the whole city which totally undermined its World Heritage site status. Within the next 12 to 18 months the whole of that area will have been transformed for the better.

In saying this, I realise that the building of a modern Parliament building at the entrance to this baroque city has been controversial on grounds of style, cost, a desire in some quarters for an opera house or modern art gallery and, I suspect, the mere fact of having our Members of Parliament inhabit a prime site when it is fashionable for such people to be held in contempt. I utterly reject such arguments for two reasons. First, this young, sovereign, independent state was long over-due for proper premises for its House of Representatives. While one could have a constructive discussion about the availability of alternative sites, Parliament’s departure from the Palace – where it has been a trespasser – will free up space to return the President’s Palace to its former glory.

Secondly, placing the design of the whole area in the hands of Renzo Piano, a world-renowned architect, has been a master-stroke. While a judgement about all art and architecture is inevitably subjective, I am convinced that the juxtaposition of the parliament building with the old, ruined opera house and the Cavalier in the background will be outstandingly successful. We shall have an iconic (for once this over-used word is justified) modern building, which will make the entrance to this historic, baroque city striking and exciting for both local and foreign visitors alike.

However, there are two aspects of the “city-gate” project to which further attention should be paid. The first is to ensure that Palazzo Ferreria, which is currently looking tired and shabby, and the City Gate Housing Block, are also enhanced in keeping with the rest of the area. Secondly – an important point – the plague of pigeons which inhabit that area and create huge inconvenience to shop-owners and residents with their bird-droppings must be dealt with. There are both health and aesthetic reasons for removing them.

Another major project is about to start as EU funding for the restoration, conservation and rehabilitation of the long-neglected Fort St Elmo gets under way. This much-awaited project will greatly enhance the northern part of Valletta to the benefit not only of Malta’s most important historic fortification, but also of the well-being and economic development of that part of Valletta.

It is almost 10 years since I described Valletta as a city betrayed. What we have seen happening at an ever quicker pace since then has been a massive transformation into a city redeemed. By 2018, when Valletta becomes one of Europe’s Cities of Culture, we should be able to gaze with great pride at a historic and architectural gem.

Martin Scicluna is the

Director General of Malta’s only independent think-tank,

the Today Public Policy Institute.

He writes here in his personal capacity