Government accused of 'neglecting' Malta's built heritage

The government is standing aside as privately-owned buildings of heritage are falling to ruin, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar said.
"Some houses are being allowed to decay to the point where developers can successfully argue at MEPA that the property has to be demolished because of its deteriorated state," FAA president Astrid Vella said, pointing to MEPAs recent decision to allow the demolishment of three 400-year old townhouses in Naxxar.

"Sometimes developers buy such properties and intentionally allow them to fall to ruin, so that MEPA will allow them to build over them. Other times, the properties' owners will simply not be able to afford their restoration."

She was addressing a press conference outside Villa Gwardamangia, where Queen Elizabeth II had lived in periods between 1949 and 1951 while her husband Prince Philip was stationed on the island as a Royal Navy officer.  

"This is the only house outside of the United Kingdom that a British monarch had resided in," Vella said. "It is crucial to our heritage and our collective memory, and could really boost quality-tourist numbers. Tourists are disgusted at how we treat our heritage.”

MEPA, she said, is legally obliged to enforce the restoration of scheduled historical sites, and to restore them themselves and charge the owners if restoration isn’t carried out.

“We’ve been pressuring MEPA to do this for four years now, and their excuse is that they don’t have enough money for restoration,” Vella said. “The government has enough money to spend on other projects, so how can it possibly not have enough money to spend on preserving our natural heritage?”

She suggested that, in cases where the owners cannot afford restoration costs, the government should foot the bill and nationalise the property upon the owner's death.

“These owners are the guardians of our heritage, a great burden to shoulder, and they deserve all the help that the government can offer,” Vella said. “It does not hesitate to purchase private property for road words. Have roads become more precious than our own heritage?”

She questioned why a White Paper launched under the previous administration, through which the government would have purchased historically important properties at their market prices, was never enacted into law.

In a reaction, the government  said that it has already started the process towards restoring and expropriating Villa Gwardamangia.

“Surveys on the property have been carried out and restoration cost estimates have been gathered,” the government said in a statement. “However, the government has no title on the property and this has created legal complications with its owners.”

Nevertheless, the government said that it plans to expropriate it, with full compensation to its owners, because it “believes that the property is one of historical heritage”.

“The FAA could have simply checked its facts before calling a press conference.”