|
Karl Schembri and Matthew Vella
The Floriana local council has postponed till Tuesday a decision that should determine whether four of its public gardens will be made available to the Welcomeurope consortium, organisers of the much-awaited light show that will herald Malta’s accession to the EU on the stroke of midnight leading into May 1.
The consortium wants to provide privileged access for its sponsors to six public gardens in Valletta and Floriana, where access would be restricted and the general public not welcome. But whilst the capital city has acquiesced to have the upper and lower Barakkas reserved for Welcomeurope’s sponsors, who will be enjoying the majestic view of the St Angelo fort where the light show will be taking place, Floriana has pulled the stops.
But only just. Whilst Floriana Mayor Nigel Holland believes the Herbert Ganado, King George V, Sir Luigi Preziosi, and Vilhena gardens should be left open to the public, he said the council may accept an alternative: “Failing that, the council can accept that these are let out to the consortium’s sponsors on condition that a suitable donation is made to the council,” he adds.
The Valletta local council, headed by Nationalist Mayor Paul Borg Olivier, has not laid any stumbling blocks. Whilst Holland says the decision should be up to the local council, Borg Olivier has been accommodating:
“Frankly the issue does not concern us as the gardens fall under central government. They are not under our jurisdiction. I personally believe public places should be open to the public, considering that this is going to be a public celebration. But having said that, there are more than enough spaces around the Grand Harbour from where the public can watch the show for free.”
The issue of free access to the public gardens should never have been the issue on such an eventful, national celebration. “The public will be watching the show for free,” stressed Lou Bondi, television producer for Where’s Everybody, one of the companies which forms the Welcomeurope consortium alongside SignIt, NnG Promotions and Nexos Lighting. He insisted “But there are six public gardens which will be made available for the sponsors, and this was agreed upon with government. Elsewhere, and anywhere by the Grand Harbour, the show will be for free.”
The justification for the restricted areas, Bondi explains, is to make good for the shortfall between the Lm270,000 Government is paying the consortium, and the real cost of the light show.
“Government is paying for a show which costs much more money than it is paying for. This is the way to make up for that money,” Bondi, whose Welcomeurope consortium has recruited the light choreographers of London’s golden jubilee celebrations Gert Hoff and Ross Ashton, said.
Newly-appointed Tourism and Culture Minister Zammit Dimech agreed that this was the best option to finance the event for which only Lm270,000 was voted to fund the cost, despite the EU having been such a politically and financially dear pursuit for the Nationalist government.
“We are abiding by these conditions of the agreement with the consortium. Welcomeurope has been given the concession to be able to finance this shortfall by allowing these gardens to be offered to their sponsors. It is a very practical way of financing such a high-level event.
“Otherwise the money would have to come from the public coffers, and the expense would have been phenomenal. Government could have done nothing of the sort and there would have been no show,” the minister added.
Asked to comment on the fact that on such an important national day, the public will not be allowed into the very gardens that are normally reserved for the public, Zammit Dimech said there will be other, diverse vantage-points located closer to the light show from which the public will have access:
“I don’t think there is any form of discrimination here because in fact the public will be watching the show from a more advantageous point, down by the Grand Harbour.”
|
