Just weeks after expressing serious concerns about the impact of the St John’s Cathedral Foundation museum extension works, UNESCO has issued a report voicing several concerns regarding Malta’s lack of respect for UNESCO guidelines regarding Valletta’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status, following its Riyadh convention three weeks ago.
These concerns stem from reports by concerned organisations, including Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) that has been campaigning about damaging developments both within Valletta and around its harbours, especially Manoel Island.
In a statement Friday, the Ministry for National Heritage said that Valletta’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site is not at risk. The Ministry also denied allegations that the Maltese government has failed to carry out the necessary work to preserve this prestigious title.
But in a statement Saturday, FAA said that UNESCO highlights projects that may have an impact on Valletta’s Outstanding Universal Value, by which UNESCO rates areas meriting the status of World Heritage Sites. UNESCO lists the extension of the Grand Hotel Excelsior, the construction of a new six-storey concrete façade at Marsamxett, (Mattia Preti House) and rooftop additions in Valletta as potential threats to Valletta’s World Heritage status.
On 12 July 2023, UNESCO passed on reports on two issues to the authorities, namely works for the new St John’s Co-Cathedral museum and the increased commercial development in Valletta’s strategic view corridors. In its conclusions, UNESCO advised the Maltese Galsovernment to urgently complete the property management plan which has been pending for years, as well as the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ to address the issue of tall buildings in Valletta and its wider setting, and to conduct Heritage Impact Assessments for all future major restorations or new construction within Valletta. FAA maintains that the Views and Vistas Analysis should also include developments like the Gzira Lido and the Capitanerie, that obstruct the public’s views of Valletta’s bastions from the Ta’ Xbiex and Gzira promenade. Importantly, the UNESCO 2017 Advisory mission also recommended that Malta should to promote high quality new, sympathetic design in Valletta, rather than permitting façadism and pseudo-historicism.
UNESCO noted that in the proposed redevelopment of Manoel Island in the immediate vicinity of Valletta, the masterplan was approved before the completion of the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ and suggested that the authorities should ensure that the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ is finalised before the masterplan is approved, an issue that FAA raised repeatedly in its objections and appeals re Manoel Island
According to FAA, UNESCO noted that the Maltese authorities made no reference to height increases in projects within and in the vicinity of Valletta that could have an impact on its skyline and proposed that the authorities commission Impact Assessments for all projects that may have an impact on the OUV of Valletta, paying particular attention to the indirect and cumulative impacts of the many projects proposed in Valletta and its buffer zone. This relevant to the row of apartment blocks proposed to be built on Manoel Island, as well as to the Stivala Tower on Testaferrata Street.
UNESCO also emphasised that the draft of the Management Plan for Valletta, requested in 2009, needs to be completed, including management of the future buffer zone and the outcomes of the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’.
Given the unabated commercialization of Valletta, FAA questions the Government’s reply to UNESCO’S call to address mass tourism issues “to minimise negative impacts and ensure that benefits from the tourism industry accrue to the restoration, preservation and sustainability of Valletta”. Government claims: “Malta continues to promote itself as a year-round destination internationally, thus minimising the effects of seasonality and ensuring that stakeholders that are active in tourism outside of the core areas can sustain their activity on a year-round basis.” This is belied by the fact that while there has been significant investment in the restoration of Valletta, this is being undermined by the 30% increase in tourists in Valletta, and the incentivising of a rowdy nightclub culture in Valletta. Furthermore, much of MTA’s efforts to promote Malta internationally have focused on attracting hundreds of thousands of young people to attend rock concerts and rave parties, the epitome of mass tourism.
Considering the negative pressures that mass tourism can exert on an old city, UNESCO recommended that a tourism management plan be developed, forming part of Valletta’s overall management system.
In conclusion, UNESCO encouraged Malta to continue to improve the Heritage Impact Assessments process by paying attention to the indirect and cumulative impacts of the many projects under preparation, including for individual adaptive re-use of buildings and large-scale developments both within Valletta and its setting, such as the Evans Building and Manoel Island projects, based on a finalised ‘View and Vista’s analysis’ and Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, and “to submit details of these projects with their accompanying impact assessments to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before any decisions are made that may be difficult to reverse.”
In its repeated emphasis on projects’ impact on Valletta’s Outstanding Universal Value, UNESCO is highlighting how Valletta’s heritage significance is being eroded, and making it clear that Valletta’s status as a World Heritage Site is being undermined. Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar calls for an immediate reversal of the ‘development at all costs approach’ of both the Planning Authority and recently, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. This also applies to the Ġgantija World Heritage Site which is being encroached by development all around. Our heritage is not only our past, it is also our future. Are we to lose our UNESCO World Heritage Sit status through developers’ and politicians’ greed?