The monument dedicated for former President Ċensu Tabone and a historic fountain do not appear anywhere in the initial designs for the Balluta metro station as revealed last week.

The monument, situated in one of the corners of the triangular open space, and the fountain, located at the centre, have been removed from the area in the graphic that shows how Balluta will look like if and when the metro system comes to be.

Last Saturday, plans for a metro system were unveiled for public discussion, with Balluta being one of the 25 stations on three lines envisaged for the project. The plans are still in embryonic stage, but they have already stirred controversy.

The Pembroke local council has already criticised the idea of having a 22-storey tower built close to the Luxol grounds, which is currently used for the park-and-ride system.

Now it has emerged that the initial design for the Balluta station has omitted the Ċensu Tabone monument as well as the fountain, leading some to think that, if and when the project gets underway, they will both be removed to make way for the metro stop.

The monument dedicated to Ċensu Tabone was installed in December 2014. Tabone, an ophthalmologist by profession, served as President of Malta between 1989 and 1994, having previously been Foreign Minister. He served in Malta’s Parliament between 1966 and 1989.

The fountain carries a longer history in Balluta, having been placed there in the 1940s. It is a copy of a statue found in a museum in Paris. Previously it had been located in St Anne Square in Sliema to commemorate the arrival of water supply there.

Caption: The graphic for the Balluta metro station as presented in the plans for an underground network omits the historic fountain currently at the centre of the open space and the monument dedicated to former President Ċensu Tabone (insets)