Seminar to focus on Valletta's regeneration

Valletta, which until about 35 years ago was a vibrant city full of residents proud to be living in the splendid Baroque capital, has been reduced to a ghost town when one considers how the number of residents has dwindled since.

There was a time when the government had initiated housing programmes by trying to "modernise" certain areas like the Mandragg, Due Balli and Arcipierku in order to stem the exodus of its residents.

But no more housing programmes of this type are possible now for two main reasons. One is that Unesco has called for a halt in the dismantling of ancient but characteristic buildings in Valletta, a World Heritage City, and, secondly, the government lacks the funds to revamp such dwellings.

In order to see how this quandary can be resolved, the Valletta Rehabilitation Project within the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure will be holding a seminar tomorrow about the options to this perennial problem.

The issue is how to find ways of regenerating certain parts of Valletta with the input of the private sector. A particular zone in Valletta that the seminar will focus on is the area close to Il-Biccerija (The Abattoir), by the Auberge de Baviere. Most of the residents there have moved out after being offered accommodation elsewhere but the neighbourhood cries out to be rehabilitated.

The seminar will be held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta between 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. and is open to the public.

Being aware of this situation which arises in most historic cities, the EU has a programme for this purpose called Entrust which stands for Empowering Neighbourhoods Through Recourse of Urban Synergies with Trades.

Entrust is a network of municipalities, urban managers and research institutions financed by the EU Fifth RTD Framework Programme. RTD stands for research, technological and demonstration activities. It aims to produce guidance on how to form and drive public-private partnerships in deprived city neighbourhoods.

The keynote speaker at the seminar will be Paulius Kulikauskas who will deal with the work of Entrust.

The other speakers include Ray Bondin, executive coordinator of VRP; Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier; Ninu Zammit, Minister for Resources and Infrastructure and Peter Calamatta, from the Environment Landscape Consortium, a public-private partnership.