Despite a number of significant but sporadic efforts, he said that bad planning, lack of funds and the absence of an integrated management approach to Valletta meant the city was losing its authenticity - a major criterion for World Heritage Sites, The Sunday Times said.

Dr Bondin was giving a presentation - peppered with pictures of dilapidation and new developments jutting boldly into the capital's skyline - at a seminar dealing with Malta's World Heritage Sites. The picture he painted was rather gloomy, a fact for which he apologised repeatedly, adding, however, that he felt he should point out these shortcomings.

Besides what went on in Valletta itself, UNESCO has been alerted about the developments taking place in Tigné, he said, and how this was affecting the view from the city, particularly in view of the development that was yet to come. Nonetheless, the most pressing problem seems to stem from the lack of planning in connection with the heritage sites and monuments. There is still no comprehensive inventory of the significant heritage, and what there was ran the risk of losing its value through neglect.

Back in the 1980s, when Valletta was granted the status, 320 monuments in a reasonable state of authenticity were submitted to Unesco. Yet in a recent list, MEPA only managed to establish 100 such monuments that conform to this description. Listing a number of major architectural landmarks such as the Grand Masters' Palace and St John's Co-Cathedral, Dr Bondin said that there had not been a single significant site within Valletta that has been completely restored. Instead, there were a number of partial restorations, sometimes even of part of a façades, and the result was largely ineffective. In fact, despite the impressions being given, he said, the amount of money spent on Valletta's restoration had decreased.

He said shortcomings in the field of conservation were coupled with planning decisions which had not favoured the city. Despite the committee's protests, he said, MEPA was continuously issuing permits for so-called recessed floors over the present buildings which were changing the city's skyline rapidly. What was more, baroque façades were being turned into rustic façades, which was alien to the city's aesthetic form, while a number of original shop façades and their structures were being lost without even a proper documentation being made of these places.

Source: The Sunday Times