Appeal for rethink on opera house (1)

I have been following the correspondence in The Times relating to the rebuilding of the Opera House for over 20 years with great interest. The content of most letters and other articles show that the majority of readers are in favour of rebuilding and restoring the Opera House back to its former glory and splendour. During World War II Malta lost a great treasure and I believe that the present government should give this lost heritage back to the Maltese public.

It was a great shock to learn that the government was planning to build Parliament on the site formerly occupied by the Opera House. This decision seems to have been done without any public consultation and I therefore strongly encourage the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to gauge the public sentiment before moving ahead. Various letters have already been written proposing that Parliament could be moved to Main Guard or St Elmo. I agree with this and also believe that there are other alternative suitable buildings in Valletta which could be used to house Parliament.

The government's argument that Valletta would be too "theatre" saturated if the Opera House were to be rebuilt does not hold much water. A new and bigger Opera House would be able to host events that otherwise could not be staged in the current theatres and which would surely attract large audiences as has been seen from operatic events organised both in Malta and Gozo in recent years.

Every capital city in Europe has an imposing and beautiful Opera House. Valletta, a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen should be no exception. I strongly urge our Prime Minister to reconsider the government's view on this very important national and sensitive matter.