“Heritage and conservation should always be above politics,” Ray Bondin tells me with an air of resignation, “though of course it rarely works that way in practice.”
We are in his office – or should I say former office – in the Valletta & Floriana Rehabilitation Project Office in Republic Street, Valletta. Visibly despondent, Bondin is serving out his remaining notice before leaving to take up a new position with Heritage Malta, where he hopes things will be a little less, well, political. But for all his insistence that heritage should be above such things, Malta’s national pastime has a habit of getting in the way.
Himself a former Nationalist Member of Parliament, Ray Bondin was recently catapulted back into the political limelight when he tendered his resignation from the VRP earlier this month. The news was quickly picked up by the Labour press as yet another symptom of internal dissent within the party in government; but Bondin himself sees it more as a professional divergence of opinion, than a clash of personalities.
“Personally, I admire Ninu Zammit for succeeding in getting more out of Government workers in his department. I know it’s not an easy job, especially considering the way things used to be (before 1987). But where we disagreed was on matters of methodology…”
As he is about to explain these divergences, Ray’s mobile phone rings. He pauses to answer, and I find myself listening to a one-sided conversation: “This is first I’m hearing of it,” he says into the phone. “If that decision was taken, it was never communicated to me…”
It transpires that the Department of Information has just issued a press release claiming that, contrary to popular perception, Bondin’s role as consultant to the Ministry was actually terminated in September 2006. His version of events is suddenly in demand from other journalists.
“It explains a few things,” he admits once the phone conversation is over. “After all, the main reason for my resignation was that I could not fulfil my function as a government consultant on restoration and conservation projects. I would give advice, but my advice would be ignored. After a while it was clear that the situation was no long tenable. In fact I felt it was not correct to continue accepting a wage under these circumstances.”
In many respects, Dr Ray Bondin’s resignation from VRP and the two other rehabilitation projects marked the culmination of a steady process of deteriorating relationships, both with the Public Works Ministry and also with MEPA, which last April abruptly terminated the committee’s consultative role.
Then as now, the movement seems to be away from public consultation, and towards a situation where there is as little “interference” as possible in the decision to withhold or grant permits.
“The idea was to have the VRP help out in giving advice as I knew the local situation much more than any case officer would,” Bondin explains when I ask about the original MEPA/VRP relationship. “As such we gave a very positive contribution to heritage protection, and were a tremendous help to MEPA. Thanks to our collaboration we got a lot done, such as the recent removal of air conditioners in Valletta. On the other hand, as curators of Valletta we also have a duty to protect our heritage. This is not being protected enough, both in terms of the general view – for instance, individuals getting swimming pools on roofs, or increasing building height by extra floors – and also in all the detail that is being lost such as in the loss of garigori, and so on.”
Perhaps this is why few were more surprised than Ray Bondin himself, when it transpired that following a decision taken by MEPA, the VRP would no longer be consulted on matters relating to development in the capital city. The official reason was that Dr Bondin himself was already represented on the Heritage Advisory Committee in his personal capacity. But he himself always countered this by arguing that the two roles were entirely unrelated.
As things stand today, the VRP remains officially a “notified body”, which means it no longer has any advisory capacity at all. Ray Bondin admits that he is disappointed with the lack of interest shown up to that point by the ministry responsible for the rehabilitation projects.
“I would have expected Minister Zammit to fight on behalf of the committee,” he says, “Although to be fair, the committee has since met up with the Ministry, and it seems that there are positive discussions taking place in this regard.”
In fact the issue is currently the subject of ongoing discussions between Zammit’s ministry and the Ministry for the Environment and Rural Affairs, which is also responsible for MEPA. But for Dr Bondin, all this will soon be ancient history, as he looks forward to once again being able to concentrate on the issue closest to his heart: conservation.
“Heritage protection needs dedicated people,” he says when asked why, in his opinion, conservation projects seem to constantly fall by the wayside. “It needs to be given more attention in Malta. Besides, it was more than obvious that the three rehabilitation projects (Valletta, Mdina and Cottonera) for which the committee was originally responsible had lost their focus and were not being allowed to operate as they should…”
Foremost among these derailed rehabilitation projects is the celebrated “Master Plan for Birgu”, announced with much fanfare in April 2004. Three years later, Dr Bondin points out that it has not been implemented… and there is “no faint idea” of when it will ever be completed.
“It requires funding, certainly,” Bondin explains, “but the real issue is one of co-ordination. I have always argued that heritage protection is important enough to require a ministry unto itself. As things work out in practice, however, it ends up divided among different departments. It seems as though we just react to problems whenever they crop up. There is no integrated plan, no sense of long-term vision. All this is very worrying from a heritage point of view.”
Coming back to the Birgu Master Plan, Bondin argues that the reason for its apparent shelving is the lack of an integrated approach to conservation.
“It’s not just a case of restoring dilapidated buildings. There is also environment improvement, urban planning, lighting, paving, and so on. What is needed is a balance between all these factors; this is in fact why it is called ‘rehabilitation’ These projects deal with the entire fabric of a city. But in the end, the only money there ever is, is for infrastructural works...”
Dr Bondin is particularly adamant that heritage protection should be divorced from the Public Works ministry once and for all. “It’s a matter of principle, and has nothing to do with individuals. But I feel that the Public Works ministry is not the right place for rehabilitation projects. Its attitude towards projects is not conservation friendly, to put it mildly.”
Apart from difficulties with the ministry, Bondin also found himself dealing with a progressively increasing number of different entities. “Many projects we planned and started were later taken over by different departments. One example is the Merchants Street paving project. I disagreed completely with the way this project was handled: starting with the choice of paving blocks, and there were other details too…”
At this point I ask Ray Bondin to list out what he considers the top priorities for restoration projects, and I am surprised when he places the Church of St Catherine of Italy towards the top of the list. But wasn’t the same Church restored very recently? With funds from the Italian protocol, if my memory serves me correctly?
“From the outside, yes. But the interior restoration has yet to even begin. In fact the church has been closed for a number of years…”
Another monument in dire need of attention is Our Lady of Victories, the oldest building in Valletta. But it seems that the same pattern to have stalled the Birgu plan has also dogged this particular project. “At present there is only enough funding to finalise this year’s phase of the project. There is nothing allocated for its completion.”
High on the list of treasures in urgent need of restoration are the priceless Mattia Peres D’Aleccio frescoes, depicting different aspects of the siege of 1565, which adorn the walls of the Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta. Bondin explains how individual projects like these throw up occasional unexpected difficulties, which for a change have little to do with politics.
“One difficulty that keeps cropping up is the availability of adequate restoration products. Not enough studies have been carried out regarding the materials used for local restoration work. So far, the tendency has been to use products designed for other places, and unfortunately we have already witnessed some negative effects.”
Another basic problem facing heritage conservation is what Ray Bondin describes as the damage caused by “well-intentioned amateurs”. Admittedly this tends to take place away from the glare of the media spotlight associated with sensitive areas like Valletta or Mdina – although there are exceptions, like the “whitewashing” of the Mdina cathedral earlier this month. Instead, it is the traditional village cores that are most affected.
“And yet, for such a small community we have a wealth of very good professionals. I think a lot could be achieved by a more co-ordinated approach: for instance, by involving the University more…”
On the subject of difficulties faced by conservation projects, I ask Ray Bondin how he deals with what must be the most commonly encountered objection : the notion of progress versus environmental protection. Take Gozo as a typical example: Gozitans often argue that the Maltese would like to condemn them to living inside a crib (“presepju”). It’s a difficult argument to counter, because (let’s face it) it’s their island, and they have a point. How does a conservationist respond to the view that progress and conservation are somehow incompatible?
“We all know that progress has to be achieved”, Bondin replies. “Nobody is suggesting a stop to all development. But it can still be done without ruining the authenticity of a place. Gozo in particular has always had a special type of urban environment: built-up areas with a unique link to the surrounding natural landscape. For this reason, it is perfectly possible to have more development in Gozo without ruining the environment… as long as the development continues to be sensitive to the feeling of the place.”
For Bondin, there is a also clear economic benefit to conserve… although he insists that this should not be the only consideration. “We mustn’t look at conservation purely from an economic angle; it is a responsibility we all share towards our country, and to future generations. But there is an argument that, by conserving the country’s heritage, you are also contributing to the overall tourist produce. The worst thing that can happen to us would be to lose the very thing that makes us unique. Once you lose your authenticity, you’ve lost everything. You become like everywhere else. This is something we should strive to avoid at all costs.”