St John’s Museum extension: Delays increase, costs swell to €25 million

Seven years after the scheduled opening of the museum extension of St John’s Co-Cathedral – Malta’s most iconic and visited national heritage site – the joint Church-Government Foundation managing the beleaguered project has no idea when it will be ready for public opening.

Following a publicised visit this week by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici to inspect the ‘progress’ reached so far, neither the Chairman of the Foundation, Monsignor Emmanuel Agius, nor the CEO, Tonio Mallia, was able to answer questions by The Shift on the ongoing delays and the exorbitantly increasing and unplanned costs.

The Shift asked the Foundation President and its CEO to state when the extension would be ready and what had happened to the original budget of €10 million. No answers were forthcoming.

Project insiders revealed to The Shift that the Foundation has internally revised upwards the project’s estimated costs to €25 million, more than double the original projection. The project remains years behind schedule.

“The project has been so mismanaged that no one knows when it will be completed,” sources said.

“The waste of funds is tremendous, and millions were already spent on consultants and advisors with little or nothing to show. Accountability and transparency are virtually nonexistent. An independent audit should be commissioned as its results will be astonishing.”

Explicit confirmation that the project, planned to open to the public in 2018, still has some years to go is provided by a new tender recently published for finishing works, including all mechanical and electrical works.

The tender, which costs millions, was only published this month and is still pending adjudication. It will then take years to complete.

The museum’s extension project has been marred by controversy.

It was launched in 2013, with then-CEO Cyntia DeGiorgio announcing its completion for 2018 in time for the celebrations of Valletta as the EU’s Capital of Culture. At the time, she said that the project would cost €10 million, partly financed by the EU.

By 2018, the scheduled opening year, the first stone had not even been laid, despite the spending of millions on plans, architects, designs, and consultancies.

The opening date was repeatedly revised and missed several times since then, with the latest announcement made by CEO Tonio Mallia being the end of 2025. Mallia is now refusing to set a new date.

Earlier this year, The Shift reported that a small part of the project, the Bartolott Crypt, which had been closed to the public for years, was also delayed due to incorrect installation of raised flooring, which damaged the original flagstone of the centuries-old crypt.

The Foundation attempted to keep this incident out of the public eye. Yet photographic evidence published by The Shift confirmed the scandal.

In the aftermath, Archbishop Scicluna, responsible for the President of the Foundation, had announced an internal inquiry to establish what was going on and why the museum project had gone off track. No conclusions have been announced.

The Shift is also informed that EU funds specifically earmarked for the Bartolott Crypt project have been lost due to the massive delays.