Valletta, Malta’s main tourism promotion hotspot, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. [Shutterstock/krivinis]
Malta’s capital, Valletta, is at risk of squandering its prestige as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the willingness of the government, and specifically the Ministry of Culture, to implement the recommendations of the foreign cultural heritage body, some of which date back longer. more than a decade.
Valletta, by far Malta’s biggest tourism promotion hotspot, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. However, the unconscionable progress of recent years and the lack of action by the government are putting its prestige at risk.
In a corporate resolution taken last month at the last UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Malta was given until the end of 2024 to submit its updated report on the state of conservation of Valletta, adding an originally requested control plan. in 2011.
This resolution follows the submission of a report to the convention, in which experts lamented that Malta had been implementing a so-called “Valletta Management Plan” for years, without reaching a conclusion. Noting that the plan was originally requested a dozen years ago, experts said it is “not yet complete. “
In 2017, a UNESCO advisory project urged Malta to finalise a management plan for Valletta and a “Sights and Perspectives” research report to address developing concerns about the impact of high-rise buildings on its skyline. Malta will submit heritage impact assessments for all long-term primary restorations or new structures in Valletta and appoint a site manager as a matter of urgency.
“The first two recommendations have not been implemented,” the UNESCO resolution says, adding that “the appointment of a site manager did not end with major delays until 2023. “
The conference also expressed concern over recent reports it has received of the long-delayed renovation of a museum at St. Peter’s Co-Cathedral. John, the privatization of the Evans Building, and the progress of Manoel Island.
In its final recommendations, UNESCO requested Malta to expeditiously submit the Views and Vista research that addresses the factor of Valletta’s internal and external height controls from a strategic perspective, for review through its advisory bodies in order to complete the delineation of a good enough buffer. area around the city and finalize the control plan requested in 2011.