This week we were regaled with some fantastic news. In an interview, Heritage Malta Chairperson Mario Cutajar, said that he believed Minister for Agriculture Anton Refalo had finally returned the British Era milestone marker. Though an official statement by Heritage Malta, the Ministry for National Heritage, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, the Commissioner of Police, Minister Refalo himself or anyone at all still has not been made, this is what appears to be a step in the right direction.

It is not known to whom the marker was returned, where it is now, if it suffered any damages during its stay at Casa Refalo, or how it ended up gracing the pool area of the Minister’s Qala villa in the first place. All we know is that it ‘appears to have been returned’, and that we should be satisfied with that morsel of information.

When pressured to supply some sort of answer to these questions, Mario Cutajar passed the buck to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, claiming that the topic at hand pertained more to the heritage watchdog. Of course, that doesn’t provide any comfort on the subject, and if the matter was truly being handled by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, then perhaps matters are even more worrisome than expected.

I don’t wish to waste these columns talking about Minister Refalo’s lapse in judgement, which appears to have been rectified. I would rather shed some light on the operation of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and its apparent conflict with the Planning Authority, which always seems to be solved in one way, and one way only.

As we all know, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is instituted by Maltese law to safeguard and carry out surveillance of the country’s (precisely) cultural heritage. It is literally what the institution is set up to do, clearly explained on its label! As expected, the government entity is furnished with the necessary tools and powers to carry out its job to the best of its capabilities.

It is therefore extremely surprising to learn of certain cases where the Superintendence changes its stance and opinion on the development of certain sensitive cases, an inexplicable change of heart, one might describe it.

Cases where the Superintendence would issue a clear recommendation about a particular development, sometimes even opposing it, and suddenly, ‘on its way to Damascus’, the position of the Superintendence is miraculously softened, or even disappears all together. 

I am referring to cases such as that of Palazzino D’Amico in Sliema, the famous block of apartments close to the UNESCO world-heritage Ġgantija temple complex in Xagħra Gozo, the developments in Fort Manoel, and in Fort Chambray, as well as Villa San Injazju in Sliema known as the Bel Vedere.

In this last case, the Superintendence went from opposing the redevelopment of the scheduled villa into a seven-storey hotel, to retreating its opposition all together, finding no problem with the application.

We all knew how the reform of the Planning Authority during Joseph Muscat’s administration had one goal, and one goal only – to be sufficiently mighty and arrogant to ride roughshod over anyone and anything. The result is that our cultural heritage has in many cases gotten the short end of the stick.

These above are just a few recent examples of high-profile sites that should have never been any discussion about them. On the other hand, unfortunately, we all know how the spirit and fabric of our towns and villages has been changed forever with hideous unsightly developments that have scarred our otherwise picturesque streetscapes.

Unfortunately, we have a situation whereby the Superintendent for Cultural Heritage has his contract countersigned by the Executive Chairman at the Planning Authority rendering the Heritage watchdog simply a subservient department of the Planning Authority. The fact that Superintendence management positions have been occupied by PA employees since 2018 only renders this incestuous relationship all the more sickening.

One Labour administration after another has turned all government agencies and authorities into mere rubber-stamps to serve its obscure interests. I am greatly disappointed by the apparent incapacitation of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to stand up for what is right and what is in its duty to defend. I only hope that one day, they can snap out of it – like Minister Refalo appears to have done…

So, Anton, do you want to tell us how the marker ended up by your pool?!

Julie Zahra is the Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Cultural Heritage, Arts, and Culture