Any cultural heritage discovered during the excavation of the metro tunnels would have to be investigated, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

It said that there would need to be a balance between preservation and the need to provide infrastructural projects of national importance.

At the beginning of October, government published a feasibility study that was drawn up by experts, looking into a possible metro system for Malta. The proposed project would take a total of 15 to 20 years to complete and it will include three metro lines with a total of 35km of track and 25 stations across Malta’s main urban area.

The proposal is currently being discussed and debated in the public sphere and people are able to make comments and suggestions.

Malta is an island with a long and rich history and it is quite common to run into heritage artefacts or in some cases catacombs during excavation.

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked a number of questions to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. It was asked to state just how likely it is for the excavation of suggested metro tunnels to encounter heritage artefacts or underground sites that need to be preserved and what are the problems that this could create.

“It is possible that the works would uncover cultural heritage. If discoveries are made, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage will deal with them in the same way that it does with all other discoveries made on a daily basis.”

Asked what it would recommend if heritage and historical finds are uncovered, the watchdog advocated for balance. “In such cases one must balance between the preservation of the cultural heritage and the need to provide infrastructural projects of national importance. Both are in the public interest. Eventual Environmental Impact Assessments would help to clarify such matters, however, the nature of the proposal is such that discoveries of previously unknown cultural heritage will be made during works.”

Lastly, the heritage watchdog was asked whether it believes plans would need to be fluid due to the possible presence of such finds.

“Any cultural heritage discovered will have to be investigated and given a heritage value based on its significance. The Superintendence would embark on an exercise to find solutions with the project architects and engineers to protect cultural heritage of superior significance that would warrant preservation, by modifying plans if possible. However, there would be cases where this would not be possible or technically feasible. In such cases, mitigation strategies would have to be identified. Shifting of archaeological features would be taken into consideration as a measure of last resort, where this is feasible, and the cultural heritage discovered warrants such treatment.”