Over six kilometres of fortifications in Valletta, Mdina and Vittoriosa will soon start to receive a long-awaited and promised facelift at a cost of around €9.5 million.

Eight contracts have just been awarded after a call for tenders, paving the way for the restoration of centuries-old bastions which have been battered by the elements and let down by neglect.

The work, worth around €9.5 million, is one tranche of a €36 million programme, covered by EU funds, to restore large chunks of the walls around the three fortified towns as well as those that once protected Gozo’s Cittadella.

Malta boasts over 60 km of fortifications, of which 25 km are in the Grand Harbour area. The restoration programme, which is expected to last five years, will focus on areas with a strong tourism potential and with high architectural value.

Works will first start on the Vittoriosa bastions in about three weeks’ time, followed by Mdina in around two months.

Some of Malta’s prized fortifications are in dire need of restoration and repair. Only three weeks ago, the wall of a bastion collapsed beneath the Argotti Gardens, in Floriana, while the bastions at Fort St Elmo, the site of the Great Siege, are also risking collapse. The cave-in at Floriana, which left no one injured, was probably caused by an accumulation of rainwater behind the wall which left it extensively damaged.

The fallen stones, which formed part of Notre Dame Gate before it was demolished early last century to make way for the street between Floriana and Pietà, are being examined to see if they can be restored and reused, a Rural Ministry spokesman said.

Restoration of the wall will be done in two phases and cost around €360,000, the spokesman said. First it will be reconstructed, followed by a structural study of the standing part to make sure it is stable.