Malta Chamber of Commerce condemns relocation of Valletta open-air market

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has expressed its “utmost dismay” at the planned relocation of the Valletta open air market.

The Chamber disagrees that the market should be relocated to the part of Ordinance Street, directly between Pjazza Teatru Rjal and the new Parliament Building.

“The country has invested more than €100 million in a world class building that, although still not completed, has already drawn the attention of the international architecture community,” it said.

“The Renzo Piano project has already featured prominently in prestigious publications and it is held in extremely high regard in the world’s architecture circles.”

The Chamber said that the parliament building in itself, would add to the country’s national pride for all Maltese people, as it would symbolise an ambitious Malta of the 21st Century.

The Chamber appealed to the Government, to protect this investment and safeguard it from the deterioration in value and status which the relocation of an open air market would inevitably bring with it.

“If relocated at all, the open air market should be limited to the stretch in Ordinance Street between Republic Street and Embassy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta,” it insisted.

The Chamber has strongly condemned the state of the new entrance to Malta’s capital where a handful of hawkers seem to have already been given the right to block Valletta’s new entrance with shabby stalls and kiosks.

“This is certainly not in line with the image which the Renzo Piano entrance is intended to project. We therefore urge the authorities to take the necessary steps to immediately remove these stalls and kiosks, and to draw up a proper plan for the use of the peripheral area,” the Chamber added.

As it claimed to a wide consensus in its Economic Vision 2014-2020, the Malta Chamber advocated the abandoning of an ‘everything goes’ mentality once and for all, in favour of a leap of quality.

“Quality is a maxim the country needs to adopt in all areas, and every effort must be done not to undermine this objective.”