City of Valetta (Malta)
The Committee was informed that in the framework of UNDP's Action Plan for the Mediterranean, the Programme Coordinator for "100 Historical sites of the Mediterranean" carried out a mission to Malta at the request of the World Heritage Centre. The Committee took note of the report and endorsed the mission's recommendations that, faced with the accelerated degradation affecting the historical buildings of Valetta, the authorities of Malta should take appropriate urgent measures so that:
- the team of the Valetta Rehabilitation Project acquires legal recognition and may call upon a Works Division for the maintenance and restoration of the historical buildings of Valetta;
- the Bill on the protection of Valetta can be finalized as soon as possible in an appropriate form, in keeping with the obligations for inscription on the World Heritage List;
- a regulation on the signs, billboards and commercial storefronts can be better formulated and applied by the competent authorities, in order to preserve the characteristics of the historical buildings of Valetta.