A city built for gentlemen

Published on the Business Today, issue 28th November 2007

Last week the headline news on Times of Malta augured a bumper Christmas for Valletta shops. This is not only a result of the laying of porfido tiles and savvy street decorations which are considered so spectacular that they warrant the Prime Minister’s personal attendance on its inauguration. Pundits say this sales bonanza has something to do with cash hoards surfacing before the closing deadline for euro conversion. Paradoxically ,shop owners in Merchant and St John’s streets have seen their sales plummet due to a six months delay in the paving process. Grtu has been beating their war drums saying that this cannot continue for ever. Even hawkers in Merchant Street were moved temporarily to Independence Square with no compensation for the drop in business. Now, six months down the line and the job is nearing completion in time for Christmas.

On a positive aspect since the completion on the new paving in Merchants Street a number of long-abandoned commercial outlets in the same thoroughfare had been reclaimed. As can be expected, delays have now been discreetly forgotten and owners clamour to recoup losses once Valletta opens up for business sporting more than 8000 sir mts of upmarket quality paving that befits a city built for gentlemen.

Already the government bent in an election mode showers praise over the project and while delays have been criticised one can be forgiven for ignoring the losses suffered by traders and ‘monti’ hawkers. Various treatments to brighten the porfido handwork are being rendered including washing with an acid solution has been applied to unravel the latent red colours. Once the washing treatment yields the desired results Valletta shoppers can embrace the revamped pedestrian facilities and street architecture. This compliments impressive results being obtained in the cruise liner visitors thronging Valletta ‘s museums thus providing another assertive motive to continue embellishing our capital. The paved Republic & Merchant streets are soon to be bedecked with finest Christmas decorations. Not bad and it can only get better once the imitative to regeneration of Valletta harbour and inner cities gathers steam. Parts of the Valletta bastions, which were torn apart years ago, will be restored to their original glory and the old bridge between Valletta and the breakwater, destroyed in World War II, will be rebuilt. Tunnels passing under the Upper Barrakka Gardens will also be restored and opened to the public.

Opposition spokesmen on the other hand plays down the Merchant street project saying this smacks of an election gimmick. But life goes on and enthralled voters shall see more sweeteners offered to them as E-day approaches. Apart from New Year parties for the great unwashed flowing into Valletta we all expect extravagant celebrations enriched with big bang fireworks marking the birth of the new currency. With an election looming vividly over the horizon, all political parties are fine-tuning their propaganda machines spurned with military style strategy teams. This is regimented to fire on all cylinders. It goes without saying that partying in the city will be de rigueur and attendance at the year-end is expected to exceed the massive crowds that embraced the Notte bianca and Notte magica events.

Surrealistically champagne will be flowing through the mouths of the smiling Tritons guarding the entrance to city gate while merry clubbers throw euro coins in the fountain mimicking the good luck tradition at Fontana di Trevi. With an election touted to be held within nine weeks from New Year voters are grooming themselves to be flattered and cajoled.
So will 2008 see more of the same of what preceded the election in 2003?
This time both parties will invest more in hospitality given that there are no distinctive political issues hitting the ballot. There is no better place to celebrate other than within the walls of our fortified medieval city.

It is deja vu again....we are about to be promised heaven on earth .The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow comes closer to reality as voters feel pampered to let go of their coveted numero uno.
Will the circus and sassy entertainment in Valletta blind us in forgetting our concerns about skyrocketed oil prices, an impending US recession and a home grown environmental deficit? A lot depends on the way mid-stream voters react to the siren songs coming out of Pieta and Mile-end. Allow me a transgression here... ,why do we rank our politicians so high almost as the proverbial King Canute who capriciously commanded the waves to go back.
Legend has it that he grew tired of flattery from his courtiers. When one such flatterer praised the king ‘s powers that could even command the obedience of the sea, Canute proved him wrong by a practical demonstration.

Canute‘s point being that even a king’s (alias our politicians) powers have limits so bewares of pre-election mirages. Ironically no prizes to guess correctly who shall be the king maker ...be it the brainwashed party faithful or the motley gang of floaters? History wakes us up to a reality check that it is the latter who hold the key to the crown. Such fickle voters ignore the surreal feel-good factor flowing abundantly through the streets of Valletta .Porfido tiles and year-end Lupercalia in the streets of our capital will not blind them to embrace wholeheartedly the spin, smoke and mirrors of the propaganda barrage . Their survival instinct, honed over the years, leads them to weigh wisely and to refuse to be hood winked or to act easy to tolerate hullabaloo, even less thinly camouflaged champagne (spumante) and timpana cocktail parties. Government will clamour to convince the electorate that the millions invested in sprucing up Valletta and the belated vision to regenerate the grand harbour is well worth it. Who wins in this tug of war? Only the ballot box will tell. Concurrently, the Prime Minister is expected to reinforce his vision to embellish the city build for gentlemen. He has inculcated in city dwellers a desire to look back with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude and to learn how to preserve our rich Baroque heritage. A final tongue in the cheek question.... will this inertia raise the ghost of the Opera house from its ruins? Keep on dreaming.

Dr Gonzi as the anointed successor to Dr Fenech Adami has toiled to improve the consultative connection to the electorate. Never before did we witness the highest level of consultative process that was introduced just prior to the issue of the pre-budget document .His main weakness is dithering to change his cabinet and smoulder a few dead wood. The next election race is his first baptism of fire.
The pivotal target for 2008 is to get the deficit to the level of well below three per cent of the gross domestic product. This will be based on the prediction that 2007 budget will end at Lm50m in the red. Reaching such an objective would enable us to cut profligacy and rein in waste and unnecessary duplication of effort. In theory any such measures if properly executed will, enable the government to release some resources that, for the last years, have been diverted to unproductive activities . In this regard, a serious attempt should be made to streamline bureaucracy and possibly announce a 0.5% drop in interest rate.

In his budget speech for 2007, Dr Gonzi talked highly of the prospects for a rally in the jobs market. He stated that : “To finish off one can allegorise that like King Canute Dr Gonzi cannot move back the waves of globalisation while undue pessimism in pre-election blues could prove harmful to the efforts to revive the economy. The trustworthiness of our King Canute is decisive for floating voters who want to judge their politicians solely on results, not on rhetoric.