End of the road for Ta' Qali crafts village
Dock No.1 may become arts and craft centre
The revamp of the Ta' Qali Crafts' Village, which has been in the pipeline for over 10 years, has hit a dead end since there are no EU funds for the long-promised project.
Instead, the government is now looking to transform the Dock No. 1 area in Cospicua into an Arts and Crafts Centre, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt has said in Parliament.
So far, the plans are that Dock No. 1 will be regenerated as a recreational area with a promenade that links it to Fort St Angelo. In reaction to Dr Gatt's comments, the Labour Party (PL) asked the government to explain whom it had consulted, and what led it to decide to abandon its electoral promises on Dock No. 1 and the Crafts' Village.
The party also questioned where government intended to get the funds to develop Dock No. 1 into a crafts centre.
The plans for Ta' Qali's Crafts Village had included a new road and the rebuilding of the workshops, currently housed in old former British services huts.
The village's rehabilitation had been re-launched in November 2007 when the government issued a call for tenders for the project that was meant to start last year and take four years to complete, at a cost of €28 million. It would also have seen the number of businesses rise from the current 40 to 85. Speaking in Parliament, Dr Gatt said the project was stopped because no funds for it were sourced from the European Union.
"The alternative that is being considered is for Dock No. 1 to be put to similar use," the minister said adding that investors who had previously shown an interest in the regeneration of the dock area had been told that, for various reasons, the redevelopment as proposed by them was no longer desired.
He said that further details on the new plans for Dock No. 1 will be announced in the coming days. The Labour Party said that in the past 15 years the government had squandered thousands of euros in public funds on studies, reports, consultants and experts commissioned to work on projects that never materialised.
The Nationalist government had come up with nine "promises" on Dock No. 1 including that it would be developed into a recreational zone and a yacht marina. And as regards the Ta' Qali Crafts Village, 11 different promises were made in 17 years, the PL said.