Housing Authority projects in Valletta

I refer to the comments made by the Housing Authority to what was stated during a seminar on the urban regeneration of Valletta last Tuesday and which appeared on The Times on February 24.

In the first place the Housing Authority was invited to the seminar but chose not to respond to our e-mails.

Secondly, in my introduction I explained very well the sequence of events, stating that since we had requested that no more buildings be pulled down but only rehabilitated Housing Authority projects in Valletta have come to a complete stop. I stated that we understood and appreciated the difficulties of the Housing Authority as rehabilitation costs much more than new buildings. I did not, in any way, criticise them but only mentioned the facts.

In their counter-statement, the Housing Authority have been careful to give a figure for the last six years! This is because the works mentioned (and the cost of over a Lm1 million) refer to a project that was started before 1992 and which dragged on for technical reasons, namely the erection of a block behind a protected façade in St Ursula Street. In my speech I mentioned that the whole story of this project rightly pointed out the difficulties involved in rehabilitation as against demolishing old buildings and building new ones.

The only other pending project of the Housing Authority is in Merchants Street which is a small project that has been pending for many years. As far as we are aware there is no other pending Housing Authority project.

The installation of lifts in Valletta has been a very positive development in the capital city and this initiative was lauded in the seminar in question. The aim of the seminar was in no way to criticise or to look back but, on the contrary, to look forward on how to achieve a sustainable and effective urban regeneration in Valletta.