An appeal to Heritage Malta

I enjoyed reading what Mario Tabone had to say about valuable work being done by Heritage Malta (Showtime, November 4). Anybody who loves the country and is proud of our history and heritage cannot but be grateful to such people and organisations. Only sick minds can shock him, his agency and the rest of the community by shameless threats.

The only real snag they are facing seems to be a shortage of manpower and finance. Surely, the EU structural funds can be a great source of investment for such a cultural agency. The grant given recently of €3.5 million for the rehabilitation of Hagar Qim (picture) and Mnajdra is a case in point.

It was heartening to read that once an archaeological site has been established, Heritage Malta takes over as the operator in the conservation and management of the site. This made me feel relieved and overjoyed. For years I have been harping about the Roman cistern and remains of the Punico-Roman tower at San Gwann which are completely neglected if not forsaken altogether. The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage himself has spoken very highly of these archaeological remains. He has publicly admitted to their importance and has recently assured me that his superintendence is keeping a close eye on the area and is trying (!) to expropriate the land from the hands of unscrupulous developers.

Dr Tabone can rest assured that public interest and awareness are far from lacking. What we want to see is a practical management plan. I have also appealed to the San Gwann local council to make use of the twinning agreement made with Monreale and of the funds made available by the EU.

But it seems that nothing concrete has been done so far in this respect; the site is still abandoned and the land in question has not been expropriated. My last hope rests in my appeal to Heritage Malta to take over this richest surviving collection of archaeological sites in order to preserve it for posterity.