Falling stones force 'safer' passageway at City Gate

Large pieces of concrete fell from the ceiling of City Gate, in Valletta on Thursday afternoon narrowly missing a group of about 30 students and traders selling handmade wares.

A trader reported yesterday that work on the gate has been going on for about seven weeks. But in his opinion, the work was so shoddy that the lumps that fell were parts of the plastering carried out in recent days.

The incident, he said, took place between 4.30 and 5 p.m.

Another trader said that to add insult to injury, work to repair the damage started yesterday morning but there was no protective net, which meant shards were still falling.

One also had to keep in mind that this was a prime tourism period and workers were spending no more than an hour a day on the site, he said. Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier said when contacted yesterday that the work being done was necessary. The council had received several complaints. These complaints were forwarded to director architect Nicholas Grech of the Works Division.

Mr Grech assured Dr Borg Olivier that he would investigate the matter and rectify the situation.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Infrastructure said the work was being carried out by Works Department employees and the aim was to remove the danger at City Gate, which had not included a steel net when it was built.

The spokesman said the damage at City Gate was found to be much worse than originally thought and the area where work was being carried out had been cordoned off with red and white tape but the students had still walked through this area.

He said that as a further preventive measure, this tape was to be replaced by bollards and a new safer system was to start being implemented on Monday.