The authorities handling a development application by lawyer Pawlu Lia to construct what has been dubbed ‘Valletta Towers’ are well aware of Malta’s heritage obligations, the Malta’s UNESCO ambassador has told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
The site in question is an 18th-century palazzo, situated at 162/163 Old Bakery Street, at the corner with Old Theatre Street.
Lia, who is the Prime Minister’s personal lawyer, already has a permit for two additional floors plus an overlying setback floor. That application had originally been turned down but the decision was appealed and overturned last December.
Now, a fresh application seeks to enlarge the setback floor at the sixth level.
The application has enraged heritage NGOs, say that the project will ruin Valletta’s skyline.
The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, which had opposed the original plans, is also opposing the new application, saying that the palazzo is architecturally and historically significant.
“Views and vistas within the city, and from and towards Valletta and the Harbour Fortifications, are to be preserved and enhanced,” the heritage watchdog said in a letter to the Planning Authority. “The current application now proposes a further increase in rooftop volume, with a further impact on the roofscape of Valletta. The Superintendence objects to this application, which should be refused.”
When contacted, Mgr Joseph Vella Gauci, Malta’s Ambassador to UNESCO, said: “This particular project is being considered by the respective national authorities who are all well-aware of Malta’s obligations that emanate from the World Heritage Convention.”
Malta has a series of international obligations to honour, not because they are being imposed by UNESCO, but because they were agreed with UNESCO when Malta nominated Valletta – and UNESCO subsequently accepted – for inclusion in the World Heritage List, he said.
“The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value with which Valletta was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 still stands and is worthy of our protection,” he added.
Mgr Vella Gauci said the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage regularly consults with a number of stakeholders on the National World Heritage Sites Technical Committee and therefore its advice on the matter is technical, valid and reliable.
“Besides, one may wish to remember that UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, through its advisory body ICOMOS, recommends that projects which show a significant chance of impact are subject to a Heritage Impact Assessment. That will help developers and authorities alike to come to a fairer conclusion on the impacts of the project on the Outstanding Universal Values of our capital city.”
In an ironic twist, Pawlu Lia’s daughter-in-law, magistrate Nadine Lia, highlighted Valletta’s heritage status in a sentence she handed down to an Italian graffiti vandal.
She fined Italian Cesare Citriniti – who she found guilty of spray-painting graffiti along several walls in the capital city – €10,000 and ordered him to serve 450 hours of community service.
Sentencing Citriniti, Magistrate Lia observed that Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and “one of the most concentrated historical areas in the world.” She added that thousands of people visit the city every day.