Restoration of Valletta's unique paving

The following is a clarification of the statements made in Ray Bondin's letter Unique Paving Destroyed (February 6). Over the past year, the Rehabilitation Project Office (former VRP) under the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, in conjunction with Transport Malta, has embarked on a very important and ambitious project whereby the paving of a large number of streets in Valletta is being repaired and restored utilising traditional materials and designs.

This project started with the preparation of various studies, among which was the historical research to identify and date the existing lava and hardstone paving scattered around Valletta. This research was the basis of the documentation process which evolved into a master plan for the city.

Apart from documenting the existing paving, proposals have also been drawn up for all streets in Valletta such that any entity applying to Mepa to repave a street has to respect this master plan. This will avoid the haphazard array of designs and materials which have evolved over the past years in this World Heritage Site.

The stretch of hardstone at St Christopher Street referred to by Dr Bondin was in a very bad state, with a good number of paving blocks dislodged. In addition, from research established by this office, it transpired that the two pavements on either side were added relatively recently, in a project by the VRP some 16 years ago. In order to respect the integrity of the city as a World Heritage site, the Rehabilitation Project Office believed that, apart from restoring the paving, the pavement, which can be considered as an accretion, had to be removed.

Contrary to what has been alleged, the RPO has, in the last few years, preserved any hardstone that was uplifted in order to be reutilised in such projects. After cleaning and repairing this original paving, the latter can be relaid in other parts of Valletta where there are missing areas of identical paving.

The hardstone referred to in Dr Bondin's letter has been removed with hand tools, marked row by row, and stored systematically on pallets to be cleaned and relaid in their original location.