Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1265051
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 JULY 2020 NEWS SCOOTER 001 SHARING THE PRESENT, SO WE CAN BUILD A BETTER FUTURE. One app. Over 450 shared vehicles. Pay per minute, per hour or per day. goto.com.mt/download * Rate per minute for Scooter trips on the GoTo Business Plan. Terms and Conditions apply. €1.50 PAGE 2 PAGE 5 Silvio Schembri apologises for 'unfortunate' foreign workers comments Banking customers offered home loan moratorium due to Covid-19 THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 50 WWW.BUSINESSTODAY.COM.MT DAVID HUDSON A rescue package worth €1.8 bil- lion has been unveiled to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Editorial PAGE 9 RIDING OUT THE STORM AND SAVING JOBS Coronavirus Government announces €1.8b rescue package to mitigate crisis Robert Abela BOV registers pre-tax profit of €89.2m • Government to pay companies €350 per employee on quarantine leave • Businesses ordered to shut down temporarily, will receive two days of assistance per week per employee Id-dinja dieħla f'riċessjoni? U Malta? www.illum.com.mt ARA PAĠNI 12 u 13 €1.25 IL-ĦADD 22 TA' MARZU 2020 • NRU 701 'Il-Gvern huwa rrassenjat li se nitilfu x-xogħol. Mentri aħna rridu nsalvawh' 'ROBERT GĦINNA QABEL IKUN TARD WISQ' Il-GWU, l-MHRA, il-GRTU, il-FATTA u l-UĦM mal-ILLUM iwissu li jekk il-Gvern mhux se jħabbar miżuri ġodda se jibdew jingħalqu n-negozji u jintilfu l-impjiegi, speċjalment fit-turiżmu, fir-ristoranti u d-divertiment! ARA PAĠNI 4 u 5 PAĠNI 10 u 11 SUNDAY • 22 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 1064 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 maltatoday This won't work, Robert EDITORIAL MT2 ROBERT Abela's package does not go far enough and will not work. Malta has entered a war which has destabilised the economy and all its workers. Abela cannot be scared of spending and rack- ing up the necessary government debt needed for a national stim- ulus now: the risks of not acting will be greater than what lies ahead in the next months. He must alleviate economic hard- ship during the epidemic to pre- vent lasting damage to the econ- omy by stopping this recession from turning into the next Great Depression. What Malta needs is a form of universal credit for all, to keep aggregate demand up and so that idle workers at home can return straight to work at the end of the crisis and restore the supply chain. STAY IN, STAY SAFE, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 Our appeal is simple: Maltese businesses must be sustained by keeping workers in a job with a social insurance that sustains their wages CLAUDIO GRECH 'We cannot allow Maltese businesses to fail. We would be failing society' INTERVIEW MT2 Never before has your support of free and independent journalism been so crucial Support us with a subscription or a donation maltatoday.com.mt/maltatodaydigitaledition JAMES DEBONO A proposed roads project en- trusted to a firm owned by architect and Labour Party organising secretary William Lewis, is still awaiting the En- vironment and Resources Au- thority's assessment and geo- logical studies. A final decision on the con- troversial link between the Mgarr harbour to Triq Lourdes in Ghajnsielem will only be taken following the evaluation of its environmental impact, Gozo Minister Clint Camill- eri told parliament in reply to questions by Chris Said. Details on the application were removed from the PA's website following a decision taken last year to stop the pub- lic from assessing "incomplete" applications. The first plans of the pro- ject presented in April 2019 showed the new road cutting across the hillside gardens beneath Fort Chambray, tak- ing up some 8,000sq.m of ag- ricultural land, woodland and dense vegetation. The afforested hillside covers an area of 45,000sq.m, which in recent years was planted with 2,300 trees and shrubs. Apart from their aesthetic importance, the gardens help prevent soil erosion. Plans show the proposed road passing right through desig- nated woodland and "dense vegetation", but the trees in this part of the project are not identified. Further uphill, 22 pine trees (mainly along Triq Lourdes), 12 eucalyptus trees, seven fig trees and one prune tree have been identified for uprooting. Further loss of agricultural land is envisaged in the rest of the project, which will also en- tail the demolition of the Gozo Channel buildings near the car park. The project foresees the planting of 18 oak trees in the vicinity of the parking ar- ea leading to the harbour, 20 eucalyptus trees and 11 pine trees. Camilleri also told parlia- ment that geological studies related to the project would only commence following ERA consultations. Last year a spokesperson for former Gozo minister Justyne Caruana defended the new plans, insisting that the Labour manifesto specifically pledged an alternative road to and from the port. Labour's manifesto, in fact, commits the government to "study in detail" an alternative road from Mgarr "with great sensitivity to the environ- ment". "This project intends to im- prove and ease the traffic flow to and from Gozo's only des- ignated port which at the mo- ment is serviced by a narrow road," the ministry had said, claiming that the project was designed to minimise the im- pact on the environment. "The Ministry for Gozo will compensate for this project since it is already planning other afforestation projects around the island in areas des- ignated for this scope." Gozo ferries road awaiting environmental studies The proposed link between the Mgarr harbour to Triq Lourdes in Ghajnsielem cuts across the hillside gardens beneath Fort Chambray, taking up some 8,000sq.m of agricultural land, woodland and dense vegetation