The entrance to the capital city will be given a new lease of life when the project involving the rebuilding of City Gate and the new Parliament premises is complete. The government has promised an entrance befitting of Valletta.

But this does not mean that we should wait until then to make it look a little bit better, even while the works are taking place. Unfortunately, over the years, the entrance to the city has been allowed to deteriorate and the many defects that exist now appear accentuated because of the work that is taking place.

Let us remember that thousands of Maltese visit Valletta every day to go to work, to go shopping or to run some errands. Let us also remember that the majority of tourists visit Valletta, and most of them do so through the main entrance. And what we have there at present is a chaotic, shabby and dangerous entrance to what should be one of the country’s jewels.

First of all, the kiosks that line the perimeter of the square just outside the gate have been allowed to mushroom. Not only in number, but also in the way they take up parts of the pavement that technically speaking, are not allotted to them. Many take out stands, tables and whatnot to advertise their wares. Sometimes, it is impossible to walk.

There have been occasions when vans were parked just outside the entrance – with people selling items from the back end of these vans. In doing so, they blocked part of the very narrow entrance to the city, which due to the ongoing works, has been rendered narrower than ever.

There have also been situations in which buses have made it very difficult for people to enter or leave the city because of the way they were parked. Not to mention the dangerous situations one may observe as people walk right in front or just behind buses while they are in motion.

To make matters worse, this narrow entrance is then literally blocked by representatives of both Go and Vodafone, trying to stop passers-by and inviting them to switch their mobile phone contracts to their company. Often, they form a line that is hard to escape. We are not saying that they should not be doing their job. We are saying that they could easily find another place along Republic Street, where the street is wider and where they would be less of a nuisance to pedestrians. It does not take much for the two companies to instruct their representatives to find a better, less inconvenient place from which to sell their products.

All this makes the entrance to Valletta extremely shabby and off-putting. It is hoped that once the works are completed, things will fall into place. It is also hoped that any measures to improve the situation will be taken before the grand opening.