A Fairy Tale
Published on MaltaToday on 17th September, 2006
imagine an idyllic bay. it's mid-september to june. quiet. relaxing. you're listening to the birds, watching the capers in bloom. the lone fisherman on the rocks. the chapel on the cliff.
fast forward to summer. now this beach is crowded. it's like squeezing 600 people into a 300 max-capacity theater. the serenity of this bay is gone for the summer.
yes, i'm talking about hondoq ir-rummien. now fast forward to the near future with this bay suffocated by development like an encroaching cancer. if the hondoq project is realised, then hondoq will be no more. the problems hondoq faces in the summer will be magnified. many believe it's Qala's problem. in fact, it's everybody's since this bay is popular with maltese and foreigners as well as gozitans. also, it will be a symbolic struggle--if hondoq falls to the developers' greed, then no 'green area' will be safe from being exploited. what will be next? A golf course at ta'Cenc? Ramla? There were rumors once of a hotel there? They plan a hotel at Hondoq--Why? The Mgarr Hotel closed down in spite of it's being chic and having a great view. And who is going to afford the flats proposed at Hondoq?--not the newlyweds, i bet!
A philosopher once spoke of 'The greatest good of the greatest number'. then surely, hondoq should be saved for the good of the many and not be prostituted for the pockets of the few.
if the plan is realised, then in the near future poarents will narrate to their children: once upon a time, there was a beautiful bay........................
Joanna Refalo
imagine an idyllic bay. it's mid-september to june. quiet. relaxing. you're listening to the birds, watching the capers in bloom. the lone fisherman on the rocks. the chapel on the cliff.
fast forward to summer. now this beach is crowded. it's like squeezing 600 people into a 300 max-capacity theater. the serenity of this bay is gone for the summer.
yes, i'm talking about hondoq ir-rummien. now fast forward to the near future with this bay suffocated by development like an encroaching cancer. if the hondoq project is realised, then hondoq will be no more. the problems hondoq faces in the summer will be magnified. many believe it's Qala's problem. in fact, it's everybody's since this bay is popular with maltese and foreigners as well as gozitans. also, it will be a symbolic struggle--if hondoq falls to the developers' greed, then no 'green area' will be safe from being exploited. what will be next? A golf course at ta'Cenc? Ramla? There were rumors once of a hotel there? They plan a hotel at Hondoq--Why? The Mgarr Hotel closed down in spite of it's being chic and having a great view. And who is going to afford the flats proposed at Hondoq?--not the newlyweds, i bet!
A philosopher once spoke of 'The greatest good of the greatest number'. then surely, hondoq should be saved for the good of the many and not be prostituted for the pockets of the few.
if the plan is realised, then in the near future poarents will narrate to their children: once upon a time, there was a beautiful bay........................
Joanna Refalo
posted by Hondoq at
6:58 PM
