A multi-million upgrade of Romeo Romano Gardens in Santa Venera will begin soon, the Environment Minister said on Wednesday, with an initial phase expected to be wrapped up within nine months.
The regeneration will include the restoration of historical features and a kitchen garden similar to the popular one behind San Anton Gardens in Attard.
Romeo Romano Gardens date back to the 1500s and are Malta's second-largest gardens, after San Anton.
Part of the gardens are currently closed off to public access but that is set to change as part of the garden's regeneration project launched on Wednesday.
Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia said the "multi-functional project" would return a partly closed off open area to the public.
"We are moving away from the plastics and concrete we have become used to seeing and focusing on more natural materials such as wood," Farrugia said.
The first phase of the project, which will cost €1 million and should be completed within nine months, consists of a children's play area, a communal garden hosting gardening activities for children, maintenance work on the existing walls and historical features including a sienja (water wheel), rainwater reservoir, and a 19th-century canal irrigation system.
A second phase will include the restoration of a historic building that is currently abandoned and its transformation into a kitchen garden similar to the one in Attard.
Romeo Romano Garden. Photo: Jonathan BorgFarrugia said the regenerated garden will address the need for a green lung in the urbanised locality.
That is a contentious issue for Santa Venera residents.
In 2019, then Environment Minister José Herrera had launched plans for a separate "green lung" roofing over part of the Regional Road, not far away from the Romeo Romano Gardens.
Herrera had said the €20 million project would be completed within three to four years, but Times of Malta reported last August that the project appeared to have stalled, with no planning application submitted for the promised project.
On Wednesday, Farrugia said that the Romeo Romano regeneration project will improve the health and wellbeing of residents, leading to a better quality of life.
