Raphael Vassallo Less than a month before the commencement of works on the City Gate/Parliament project in Valletta, both Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi have refused to divulge the source of the “€60 to €80 million” allocated to its completion: almost €40 million of which has already been paid in advance.
The project envisages a new Parliament building for Freedom Square, while retaining the former Opera House’s ruins much in their present form. The existing City Gate will be replaced, as will the arches currently encircling Freedom Square.
The declared budget for this project stands at €80 million, which is understood to include the fees of world-renowned architect Renzo Piano: originally commissioned by Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici in the 1980s, and retained by every successive administration of government.
However, the financing of this project remains a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. In his budget speech last November, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech revealed that the project would be financed through the sale and lease of government property by a “national investment fund”, to be set up within the Lands Department, “in a way that this project (would) not be a burden on taxpayers”.
Gonzi himself explained the workings of this fund in his post-budget press conference: the fund would derive its income from rents and concessions on government land, and from investment in stocks and shares both locally and abroad.
However, no such ‘national investment fund’ appears to have materialised since then, and not even Dr Jason Azzopardi – the parliamentary secretary responsible for the Lands Department – was able to confirm or deny its existence.
“This Secretariat is in no way responsible for the mentioned investment fund, hence I am not in a position to give you an answer to your questions,” his spokesman said on Friday.
Meanwhile, the finance ministry confirmed separate media reports that “anywhere between €60 and €80 million” has already been set aside to finance the project, and also that around €39 million has already been paid out.
But he steadfastly refused to specify exactly how this money had been raised. “At this stage it is too early to comment,” ministry spokesman said, less than four weeks before works are scheduled to start. “The information requested will be communicated at the opportune time.”
Asked whether they had misled parliament by claiming the City Gate project would not be financed by public money, neither Gonzi nor Fenech returned with an answer.
The City Gate project has been mired in controversy ever since 2005, when Prime Minister Gonzi declared his intention to build a Parliament on the site of Gordon Barry’s celebrated Theatre Royal: damaged during an air-raid in April 1942, and eventually dismantled altogether.
Following consultations with Piano, the project has since been re-dimensioned to move the proposed Parliament onto Freedom Square, and to retain the Opera House ruins for use as an open-air concert venue. But this elicited a chorus of disapproval by theatre aficionados, who argue that such a venue will be impractical and unsuited to the country’s artistic needs.
Questions have been raised regarding the expense. Coming at a time when Government slashed a €50 million subsidy to the Enemalta Corporations – resulting in an unpopular hike in utility bills – some have questioned the wisdom of spending almost double that amount on a project which surveys suggest may be opposed by 80% of the population.
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