Gozo losing its identity to speculators

Published on the Times of Malta by Thursday, 3rd June 2010 by Jane Carr,

In many parts of the world, speculative investments have created a serious oversupply of hotels, resorts, golf courses, shopping and entertainment centres in popular tourist spots, causing environmental destruction and undesirable changes in community life. Many of these establishments are now empty and more or less ruined.

Gozo itself is well on the road to over-exploiting, hence destroying, the very things that attracts people to its shores - its crystal clear waters, its delightfully varied coastline and its beautiful countryside. There is already a proliferation of empty apartments, but more are being built every day. Fort Chambray, which is still in the process of being completed, already has large sections that look derelict. Hotels are closing - and are either being torn down or converted into yet more apartments.

In the news at the moment is the proposed development at Ħondoq ir-Rummien, "Qala Creek". Developers wish to blast out a disused quarry to build a marina and a pseudo-Italianate village. This will undoubtedly ruin one of the last unspoilt beaches in Gozo - traditionally a place where locals and tourists alike can enjoy the natural beauty the island has to offer.

The developers have stated in the original TIS that the roads in Qala are 7.2m wide, whereas the narrowest parts are 4.2m wide. The developers stated in an August 2002 newspaper article that there would be 260 residences - and in another article in May 2010 that the original proposal of over 450 apartments and 60 holiday flats has now been nearly halved (as it happens, half of 450 plus 60 makes 255 - approximately the same number of residences mentioned back in 2002!) How many other discrepancies are contained in the proposal documents?

What of "Eco-Gozo" and their vision that "the environment is protected and accessible to all". With a large area being blasted and the rest built on, and with the provision of only 90 public car parking spaces (despite the fact that up to 320 cars have been counted at Ħondoq and the road leading to Ħondoq at any one time) - there are two visions that will not be fulfilled.

Could not the construction industry better use their undoubted skills in renovating the many empty properties that already exist? Maybe the government should look at finding ways of diversifying the local economy - after all, there are only finite resources the construction industry can exploit, and finite land to build on.

Jobs for the locals? Use of cheaper foreign labour is increasingly becoming the norm both in the tourist industry and in particular the construction industry; and with more rental properties to choose from, some landlords are bound to lose out. Sustainable development? When half of Gozo is quarried, and the other half built on, the fickle tourist will have long moved on to the next unspoilt location.

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