Ħondoq - is the tide turning?
Published on The Times of Malta on Sunday 15th June, 2008 by Leslie Causon.
News that the government has allocated €10,000 to the Qala council to carry out a technical analysis of the environmental impact assessment of the proposed Ħondoq ir-Rummien development is welcome.
This move should be seen as a positive development in this long drawnout saga and the funds should now allow the local council to forward its opinion and its own expert advice to Mepa.
Qala residents and the local council have, from the outset, expressed their disagreement with the proposed monstrous development of this picturesque bay and its surroundings. In 2002 the original application was refused by Mepa and subsequently the Gozo and Comino Local Plan (issued in July 2006) gave some hope to the developers by listing the area as being in need of 'rehabilitation'. What happens next? Some cosmetic changes to the original application and, hey presto, a new proposal is made, and Mepa is asked to reconsider.
If one reads the specific section in the 2006 plan (section 14.8.4) it is very clear that Mepa continues to acknowledge the sensitivity of the area from an environmental and landscape point of view.
It talks about the need to have basic beach facilities which should be "small in scale and located in an area which renders them non-obtrusive". It also acknowledges that there have to be proposals that would reach the aim of rehabilitating the old quarry which today is an eyesore. These include the afforestation of the area or the building of a theme park.
It is clear that even this plan finds it difficult to acknowledge that doubling the potential population of Qala by building a 170-bedroom hotel and nearly 300 other residences - villas, self-catering units and multi-ownership residences - is the right approach to solving the eyesore created by the quarry. It seems to me that this is simply an excuse to turn this area into a goldmine for speculators.
The government should be applauded for taking this very positive initiative.
The residents hope that Mepa will now have the necessary tools to take an impartial decision on this matter, which should help to turn words into action... and really start the process to turn Gozo into an ecological island.
News that the government has allocated €10,000 to the Qala council to carry out a technical analysis of the environmental impact assessment of the proposed Ħondoq ir-Rummien development is welcome.
This move should be seen as a positive development in this long drawnout saga and the funds should now allow the local council to forward its opinion and its own expert advice to Mepa.
Qala residents and the local council have, from the outset, expressed their disagreement with the proposed monstrous development of this picturesque bay and its surroundings. In 2002 the original application was refused by Mepa and subsequently the Gozo and Comino Local Plan (issued in July 2006) gave some hope to the developers by listing the area as being in need of 'rehabilitation'. What happens next? Some cosmetic changes to the original application and, hey presto, a new proposal is made, and Mepa is asked to reconsider.
If one reads the specific section in the 2006 plan (section 14.8.4) it is very clear that Mepa continues to acknowledge the sensitivity of the area from an environmental and landscape point of view.
It talks about the need to have basic beach facilities which should be "small in scale and located in an area which renders them non-obtrusive". It also acknowledges that there have to be proposals that would reach the aim of rehabilitating the old quarry which today is an eyesore. These include the afforestation of the area or the building of a theme park.
It is clear that even this plan finds it difficult to acknowledge that doubling the potential population of Qala by building a 170-bedroom hotel and nearly 300 other residences - villas, self-catering units and multi-ownership residences - is the right approach to solving the eyesore created by the quarry. It seems to me that this is simply an excuse to turn this area into a goldmine for speculators.
The government should be applauded for taking this very positive initiative.
The residents hope that Mepa will now have the necessary tools to take an impartial decision on this matter, which should help to turn words into action... and really start the process to turn Gozo into an ecological island.
posted by Hondoq at
4:15 PM
