Couvre Porte chaos repelling tourists during peak season

Works on the reconstruction of a bridge at Couvre Porte, in Vittoriosa, are still ongoing eight months on since it first served as the backdrop to resources minister George Pullicino's press conference on government's third year of the legislature.

Restaurateurs are claiming they have suffered great losses in business in the past year because of the works have stopped tourists from entering the historic core of the town.

In fact the entrance originally provided a unique access into the town for patrons to avail themselves of restaurants such as Sugu, Del Borgo, Tal-Petut, and the town square eateries.

David Darmanin, chef patron of Taverna Sugu, claims his business has suffered immensely and that establishments were given just 24 hours’ notice by the local council of the upcoming ‘project’ – a reconstructed bridge over the Vittoriosa entrance.

But the situation has worsened in the past months of construction, to the point that tourists are turning away from the town’s entrance due to the dangers of construction.

“Additionally, construction is being repeatedly stalled – even stopped on feasts leaving tourists unable to cross into the town from Couvre Porte,” Darmanin told MaltaToday.

“We’ve reached the pits. The construction of what is supposed to be a bridge has been going on for ages, the debris created in the area has left an atmosphere of shoddiness, and it is repelling tourists away from the traditional core of Birgu.”

Apart from the dust and noise witnessed by a MaltaToday journalist, the rubbish left behind in the evening makes it an unwelcome entrance for tourists at night.

The project was originally schedule to last five months, but it has been repeatedly delayed by frequent stoppages to the works. Darmanin says the contractors he spoke to said there is “no serious project management on site… one contractor could not start work because he was no providing scaffolding by another contractor.”

Adding insult to injury is the fact that a makeshift passage through the scaffolding beneath the bridge is only 40cm wide, which makes it already difficult for passers-by to walk through, and impossible for the disabled, wheelchair-bound or people with pushchairs.