NEWS | Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Financial institutions mum on Labour’s proposal for a financial services centre at City Gate

There was total silence by those financial institutions that will be directly affected by the Labour Party’s proposal in the Grand Harbour regional development plan to build a financial services’ centre at City Gate and the former Opera House to complement the Stock Exchange and the Central Bank of Malta.
Asked by BusinessToday for their reaction to the Labour Party’s proposal, whether they agreed with it or not and the reasons behind their position, the Central Bank of Malta (CBM), the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) either did not reply to our e-mails or chose not to comment.
A spokesperson for MFSA chairman Joseph V Bannister told BusinessToday: “As indicated in our telephone conversation, this is not a regulatory issue”, therefore the Authority would not be reacting to our questions.
Likewise, a spokesperson for MSE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Guillaumier told a BusinessToday journalist: “Mr Guillaumier will not be commenting to your questions”
Central Bank Governor Michael C Bonello chose not to reply at all our questions. Various e-mail messages sent by this newspaper starting from Monday afternoon until the time we went to print went unanswered.
A number of financial commentators usually known for their loquacity were also unusually silent when asked by BusinessToday for their reaction to the Labour Party’s proposal for a financial services centre at City Gate and the former Opera House.
On his part, former Nationalist Finance Minister John Dalli dismissed the MLP’s proposals outright. “A financial services centre is simply an office block,” he told BusinessToday.
“What architectural sensitivity will be shown to our Valletta architecture? I hope it will not be the same as the blocks of apartments constructed by a Labour government just opposite the site in question,” he said.
Asked by BusinessToday what should be built at City Gate instead of a financial services centre, Dalli was in agreement with the Nationalist Government’s position on the area: “I believe that the site should house our parliament which will be built to provide full amenities to parliamentarians and the public.” Veteran banker and University lecturer John A Consiglio explained that his ideas about City Gate were “pretty simple and conservative really, but in all honesty I must admit that I am very much biased by the fact that my late father returned to Malta from his musical studies in Italy specifically to work at the glorious Royal Opera House as it then was, in the orchestra as first clarinet....and he remained in Malta ever thereafter.
“So my first dream is obviously that the Barry facade and external structure should totally return. If then, on the inside, our Parliament, or, for instance, the Malta Financial Services Centre offices, would be operating, then I’m not much concerned,” he said with more than a tinge of nostalgia.
However, frankly, I do not see that area as at all offering a good location for this so-described ‘financial centre’. I hope we’re not thinking of, here too, multi-storey buildings Frankfurt or London financial centres style, which would certainly say finis to the medieval city characteristics of Valletta.
“Of course one would have to see plans and designs before really expressing definite views. I’ am also under the impression that many specialist financial services firms are showing this tendency of going for specific posh area types of offices, such as for example one finds at Portomaso, Ta’ Xbiex, and elsewhere.
“The idea of having them all clustered in one concentrated area may be fine, as well as needed, in places where travelling distances are a factor, but Malta just does not justify clustering and concentrating in one area merely on that basis,” Consigilio said.
He explained there are various things that can be done to revamp City Gate. “For example cleaning up the bus terminus, redoing the pavements, removing the Arab souq atmosphere which those street vendors in and outside City Gate are creating, possibly a new style of doorway, so much, so much to be done.
“I often think that in our national frenzy for ever more shops, businesses, cafes, restaurants, banks, so-called tourism ‘amenities’, we may be forgetting the most important element, humans.
“Humans, tourists, Maltese, call them what you want, really want to be less not more bombarded with commercialism, shops, banks, entertainment, and other things.
“They want to be able to walk, talk, admire, feel relaxed....what about making this area a place where this concept of peace and tranquility is what hits you as you enter....not the chaos and ‘genn’ and muck that it today really is,” Consiglio told BusinessToday.
Architect David Felice, President, Chamber of Architects, speaking in his own personal capacity, told BusinessToday: “Successive governments have failed to implement a project for the development of the Opera House site - arguably Malta’s most valuable piece of real estate.
“That the Labour proposal includes office development and the ‘safe’ option of a multi-purpose facility, whatever that may be, is indicative of this and the fear of political parties to face the challenge of achieving completion of this project, presumably within their term of office, and the inevitable financial cost.
“Labour claims to have undergone an extensive consultation process with stakeholders. Did not anyone suggest alternatives to office development? Is it possible that the public, the same stakeholders that were consulted, have no interest in introducing more cultural activity in the city and that our political parties are reacting accordingly?
“The site demands a development that is transparent and accessible to those who enter Valletta and to its community. Not an introverted, private and secured use. Above all I believe the public wants a project that is executed efficiently and where design quality is of the highest order,” Felice said.

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