The Green Whistleblower
Published on The Sunday Times on 24th September, 2006 by Alan Deidun.
SOS Qala
Fr Lawrence Theuma's cri de coeur (The Sunday Times, September 17, p. 16) deserves a resounding accolade since it comes from an individual who is going against the grain. In fact, while some in the Church are laudably involved in pro-environmental initiatives, like the Green Commission, others, like the Augustinians who owned the land at Hondoq ir-Rummien or the Church authorities in Qala, are sitting on the fence, effectively undoing all the commendable work done previously by Mgr Karm Refalo who has managed to marshal Qala's residents against the project.
This comes hot on the heels of revelations that the Gozo Curia had asked for more land to be included in the recent scheme extension, despite Bishop Emeritus Nikol Cauchi's views on the need for sustainable development (The Times, July 15).
How can the Church look the other way when the prospect of bathers having to swim against the backdrop of yachts, rather than pristine waters, or of thousands of truckloads of hard rock excavated on site trundling their dusty way through tranquil Qala, is becoming more likely?
In a nutshell, a 170-bedroom hotel, as well as 25 villas, 260 dwelling units, 10 shops and five restaurants and a yacht marina accommodating 100-150 yachts are being proposed. If proponents of the Qala creek project have Gozo's tourism industry so much at heart, why don't they remove any mention of the villas and dwelling units from their proposal, since Gozo is already replete with these (as the recent closure of L-Imgarr Hotel shows) and lobby just for the yacht marina?
One slight consolation offered by the pro-scheme extension camp was that no more ODZ developments would be condoned and that a minimal 0.4% increase was being proposed - if the Hondoq ir-Rummien, Ta' Cenc, Hal Ferh, Smart City and any other developments still in the pipeline do materialise, the 0.4% figure would have to be revised and any comfort it offered would have petered out.
Despite a few still equating environmentalists with Flower Power, the green movement has diligently organised itself - regarding the Ta' Cenc and Xaghra l-Hamra projects, the objection has led to the creation of a Website, where one can sign an online petition - http://soshondoq.blogspot.com - hosted by the Moviment Harsien Hondoq.
Yacht marina drive
I happened to come across the "Yachting Potential Subject Study, Public Consultation Summary", compiled by the MMA and MEPA, which critically assessed a number of sites around the Maltese Islands for their yacht marina potential.
In the 'site sieving' exercise conducted for such a report, 23 sites were considered, either for a marina location or for a yard/hard standing site. Interestingly, Qala quarry site was listed in the report as an unlikely site, while the short-listed sites were Dockyard Creek, Lazzaretto Creek, Kalkara Creek, French Creek, Malta Hydrofoil site (Marsaxlokk) and Xemxija Bay. If view of this technical report, why are the Qala Creek proponents trying to revive the project?
The report objectively compares the pros and cons of every site. For Xemxija, advantages include the fact that it is protected on three sides, does not present any navigational problems, boats are already a feature on site, water is already polluted, a large water area is present and there is space/potential for a large marina and site offers existing tourism/catering facilities.
On the other hand, a marina development at Xemxija would not be financially feasible on its own and would be the most expensive to develop of all the short-listed sites, with a 300-berth marina costing around Lm3.2 million (i.e. double the cost for developing a marina at Kalkara or Dockyard Creek).
In addition, opportunities for developing other income-generating infrastructure, such as tourism and residential units, are limited due to space restrictions and Structure Plan policies SET 1 and SET 11, which limit additional accommodation or ancillary development in the area. To crown it all, the envisaged traffic impact would be significant, the site is exposed to north-easterly gales and a large marina would monopolise the inner part of the bay.
SOS Qala
Fr Lawrence Theuma's cri de coeur (The Sunday Times, September 17, p. 16) deserves a resounding accolade since it comes from an individual who is going against the grain. In fact, while some in the Church are laudably involved in pro-environmental initiatives, like the Green Commission, others, like the Augustinians who owned the land at Hondoq ir-Rummien or the Church authorities in Qala, are sitting on the fence, effectively undoing all the commendable work done previously by Mgr Karm Refalo who has managed to marshal Qala's residents against the project.
This comes hot on the heels of revelations that the Gozo Curia had asked for more land to be included in the recent scheme extension, despite Bishop Emeritus Nikol Cauchi's views on the need for sustainable development (The Times, July 15).
How can the Church look the other way when the prospect of bathers having to swim against the backdrop of yachts, rather than pristine waters, or of thousands of truckloads of hard rock excavated on site trundling their dusty way through tranquil Qala, is becoming more likely?
In a nutshell, a 170-bedroom hotel, as well as 25 villas, 260 dwelling units, 10 shops and five restaurants and a yacht marina accommodating 100-150 yachts are being proposed. If proponents of the Qala creek project have Gozo's tourism industry so much at heart, why don't they remove any mention of the villas and dwelling units from their proposal, since Gozo is already replete with these (as the recent closure of L-Imgarr Hotel shows) and lobby just for the yacht marina?
One slight consolation offered by the pro-scheme extension camp was that no more ODZ developments would be condoned and that a minimal 0.4% increase was being proposed - if the Hondoq ir-Rummien, Ta' Cenc, Hal Ferh, Smart City and any other developments still in the pipeline do materialise, the 0.4% figure would have to be revised and any comfort it offered would have petered out.
Despite a few still equating environmentalists with Flower Power, the green movement has diligently organised itself - regarding the Ta' Cenc and Xaghra l-Hamra projects, the objection has led to the creation of a Website, where one can sign an online petition - http://soshondoq.blogspot.com - hosted by the Moviment Harsien Hondoq.
Yacht marina drive
I happened to come across the "Yachting Potential Subject Study, Public Consultation Summary", compiled by the MMA and MEPA, which critically assessed a number of sites around the Maltese Islands for their yacht marina potential.
In the 'site sieving' exercise conducted for such a report, 23 sites were considered, either for a marina location or for a yard/hard standing site. Interestingly, Qala quarry site was listed in the report as an unlikely site, while the short-listed sites were Dockyard Creek, Lazzaretto Creek, Kalkara Creek, French Creek, Malta Hydrofoil site (Marsaxlokk) and Xemxija Bay. If view of this technical report, why are the Qala Creek proponents trying to revive the project?
The report objectively compares the pros and cons of every site. For Xemxija, advantages include the fact that it is protected on three sides, does not present any navigational problems, boats are already a feature on site, water is already polluted, a large water area is present and there is space/potential for a large marina and site offers existing tourism/catering facilities.
On the other hand, a marina development at Xemxija would not be financially feasible on its own and would be the most expensive to develop of all the short-listed sites, with a 300-berth marina costing around Lm3.2 million (i.e. double the cost for developing a marina at Kalkara or Dockyard Creek).
In addition, opportunities for developing other income-generating infrastructure, such as tourism and residential units, are limited due to space restrictions and Structure Plan policies SET 1 and SET 11, which limit additional accommodation or ancillary development in the area. To crown it all, the envisaged traffic impact would be significant, the site is exposed to north-easterly gales and a large marina would monopolise the inner part of the bay.
posted by Hondoq at
9:36 AM
