Over €250,000 to be invested in the maintenance and cleansing of Valletta

The Cleansing and Maintenance Division (CMD) within the Public Cleansing Secretariat has invested more than €250,000 for the upkeep, cleansing and maintenance of Valletta.

The CMD announced that new machinery will facilitate the collection of trash in the capital city, both in the commercial sector and the residential areas of Valletta.

"It's no longer acceptable to have enormous trucks collecting trash and waste. Today, we have modern trucks as used by other cities across Europe. Outside Valletta, these small trucks will transfer the trash to other larger trucks," CMD Director General, Ramon Deguara said.

Deguara was speaking at a press conference held in Valletta, together with Parliamentary Secretary Deo Debattista and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici.

Deguara explained that the CMD is also maintaining several aspects of the capital, including the repair of bollards, maintenance of skips, decorative lights, maintenance of pavements and painting works.

“The CMD has thoroughly invested in human resources, machinery and equipment for the cleaning of our capital city during the last two years,” Bonnici said. “Numerous interventions are carried out continuously in Valletta, including general upkeep around the city. The Division also carries out cleansing works after activities which attract quite a number of people, so that the capital city swiftly returns to normal."

He argued that Valletta's regeneration following the title of European Capital of Culture 2018 came with certain challenges that the government was "swiftly addressing."

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The CMD also announced that it had recently recruited a number of technical workers in a bid to constantly maintain the capital city. These will be in charge of cleaning rainwater drains, maintaining fountains and street furniture as well as paving repair.