Measures for Paceville's 'social re-engineering'

The GRTU, Association of Retailers and Traders has reached agreement with the St Julian's local council on the issuing of a by-law prohibiting people from walking round the streets of Paceville holding bottles and glasses, Philip Fenech, the GRTU's hospitality and leisure division president, said.

The association had been lobbying for this safety regulation and was in discussion with the police about the matter.

Drinking would be confined to the establishments, he said, adding that abroad, walking around with glasses and bottles was unheard of. In Paceville such containers were often disposed of in the road, making it look shabby, or got smashed under cars, sending glass flying. There was also the danger that they could be used in a fight, Mr Fenech said.

"Paceville should not resemble a disorganised party, with people roaming the streets with bottles."

The GRTU was also trying to identify a central location from which the police could supervise the area for a more efficient operation.

These measures were part of the "social re-engineering" of Paceville, a need for which had been felt to ensure that cleanliness and order were maintained after the area is upgraded, Mr Fenech said.

The programme, he said, was long overdue, but hopefully, with a concerted effort, the area would be "harmonised" and turned into an important link in what has been termed the Golden Mile - the promenade from the Radisson SAS Baypoint Resort down to Spinola and along the embellished Sliema promenade.

The Malta Tourism Authority's Paceville committee was considering providing a manager to look after the area after the embellishment project was complete, "its management being as important as the embellishment", Mr Fenech maintained.

The idea was to bring more organisation to the area and to the way people moved about in Paceville.

"The whole Paceville area developed in a piecemeal fashion, without any strategic planning, and despite the substantial investment from the private sector, the government has not kept up with and complemented it," he said.

"If the area is made respectable, people will respect it more," insisted Mr Fenech. That was the bottom line.

The embellishment project would result in better roads, bins, lighting and semi-pedestrian areas, which meant that cars - another source of danger - would not pass at the peak time and endanger the crowd.

Mr Fenech said the embellishment was not only cosmetic but would see to the flow of storm water and drainage systems for more efficiency in infrastructural services.

As regards cleanliness, he said the problem was that proper cleaning could never be carried out due to the potholes and cracks in the roads in which water accumulated and created a stench.

The public convenience problem would also finally be resolved, with toilets being constructed on part of the land expropriated from the Maltacom premises. The fact that there were no public toilets had proved to be a burden on establishments and discussions have been underway for years, Mr Fenech said.

Lighting and street furniture are also being upgraded and the GRTU is in discussion with the authorities on where the government can intervene in landscaping projects.

Noise pollution was another problem that needed to be addressed, he said, adding that it is in the interest of the entrepreneurs that loud music does not spill out of their establishments. Tourists have a right to sleep at night even if they have booked a hotel in Paceville and entrepreneurs should be sure to keep them happy and coming back.

It was also the residents' right to be able to enter their homes without encountering obstacles and have their houses secured against litter and other abuse, he said.

Mr Fenech said these issues would be addressed and coordinated in the harmonisation programme, which is being put together by the GRTU.

He said the programme would not happen overnight, but, in the meantime, Paceville would continue to operate, so the business and domestic community would not be handicapped.