Sliema mayor Anthony Chircop told The Malta Independent that playground equipment at the Qui-si-sana playground is set to be refurbished by the coming summer season.

Many Sliema locals, especially parents, who frequent the playground raised some concern about the run-down state of the equipment which could pose a danger to their children.

Pictures of the rusty and damaged equipment have been uploaded to Facebook accompanied by calls for action directed at the Sliema Local Council. There is also a missing swing in the swing set which seems to have been left without it for over a year according to posts on Facebook.

When asked for his opinion on the condition of this playground, Sliema Mayor Chircop told The Malta Independent that the damage comes from the playground’s exposure to natural forces and that most of it is rust which looks worse than it actually is. “It’s not going to break up” he said, even though certain pictures of eroded equipment might show otherwise.

However, Chircop assured that the council is “already in discussions with a company to have everything replaced and it is in the concluding stages. It is being done through the contribution of one of the development companies here in Sliema that would be providing new structures.”

He explained that the equipment is due to be replaced around Easter or just after to make sure that it is ready for summer when these spaces are much more used.

Chircop also mentioned that in the meantime they have instructed suppliers to see how they can have the equipment in place temporarily fixed. The council is also waiting on an inspection of the playground in order to see if the equipment is considered unsafe at the moment, in which case they will “zone off” the area with signs for it not to be used.