Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1365202
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 APRIL 2021 INTERVIEW Hondoq ir-Rummien should return In the past, Gozitans often criti- cized the Maltese for regarding their home island as some kind of idyllic paradise, reserved for their own enjoyment. That attitude, however, seems to be changing. Do you share the view that Gozo, by virtue of remaining comparatively un- spoilt, should be treated using a different yardstick to Malta? Yes, I do. Let's start with this: why do so many Maltese come to Gozo, anyway? Isn't it be- cause there is more peace and quiet here, than in Malta? So if Gozo ends up being just as noisy and stressful as Malta – or even more, at the rate we're going – the Maltese will no longer keep buying properties in Gozo. On the contrary, they will sell the flats they already have, and go somewhere else. Like Italy. Let's face it: there was already a time when people started going to Sicily instead. This is already happening now… let alone if we carry on like today… But I want to make something clear. I'm not 'against develop- ment', for its own sake. What I'm against is 'aggressive' de- velopment… or, even worse, speculative development. Take what's happening here in Qala, for instance. I suppose you've been following the recent de- velopments about the project to build 163 flats. Well, right now there are between 450 and 500 apartments being built here. And around 500 flats will bring – at the very minimum – 1,000 people. Now: Qala has a population of around 2,200, give and take; so these new apartments that are going up – not counting the 163 in the pipeline, and others being proposed – will attract around half the current population… Can Qala's infrastructure, as it stands today, actually cope with that sort of sudden popu- lation increase? No, and I'll you why. In the case of the proposed development at Ħondoq ir-Rummien, for in- stance – well, I have lot to say about that; but for now, let me just point out that the original EIA confirmed that that project would generate a lot of traffic. So they had to come up with what is known as a 'bypass route'. But they took a long time to find one. First they tried Wied is-Simar: but it was a non-start- er. The route they came up with was so long and convoluted, it would have taken many more hours to get to Ħondoq from Mġarr. Then they tried other routes… but none of them worked either. I would have to show you the plans to explain properly: but trust me, they couldn't find a by- pass-route, because… as repeat- ed EIAs have concluded, time and again: Qala's infrastructure just can't handle that level of traffic. The only road to Ħondoq is around four metres wide, at its narrowest: and it passes right through the main square. There is simply no way that project can go ahead, without diverting all the traffic – and trucks, and cranes – through the core of the village. One of the other stands you've taken was against a develop- ment permit granted in a valley [Tal-Marga] that is notoriously prone to floods. In this case, however, the project was with- in the development zone. You seem to be suggesting, then, that problem is not just with individual projects, here and there: but with the local plans for Qala as a whole… Let me explain my position on that particular development. The problem was not that it was ODZ – it wasn't - and I have no issue with any development that is within the regulations. But in this case, the developer also ap- plied to excavate a one-storey, underground garage. Now: everyone knows that, at Tal-Marġa, if you dig down five, six… let's say 10 feet, you're going to end up knee-deep in water. Because it lies over an aquifer. So what would happen, if you dig down five metres to build an underground garage? They would have had to pump out all the water, 24 hours a day, just not to end up flooded. And that means that all Qala's fresh water would be gone… just like that. Besides, everyone knows that that valley is a flood-zone. So much so, that when I first showed the evidence of this the PA – a video I took recently, during a storm – the reaction was to recommend an outright refusal. All the same, however, my position from day one – and I told this to the developer, at the time – was that, so long as the project was within the zone, and didn't include an under- ground garage… I would have no objection at all. But… the developer decided to 'show off' [jitkessaħ]. He carried on regardless, even after a neg- ative recommendation by the MRA; and – at one of the meet- ings before the final decision – they brought God-knows how many architects, engineers and hydrologists to rubbish all our arguments. But we were repre- sented by Perit Anthony Fenech Vella: and when I showed him that video on my laptop, he told me we had all we needed to win the argument at board level. And we did: a total, outright refusal… The show of force by local coun- cils proves that this issue goes well beyond party politics; how much, however, does it actual- ly represent public in opinion in Gozo? Has there really been a change in Gozo's previous 'pro-development' bias? Let me put it this way: in Gozo, there is a 'fear factor': people are afraid to speak out openly. Even my own experience as mayor shows this. There was a concert- ed campaign against me, before the last election; and I even end- ed up isolated in the Qala La- bour Party committee. But what the people behind that campaign didn't know, was what people out there are really thinking. It is only when people are alone, in In a rare display of cross-party consensus, all 17 of Gozo's Local Councils recently warned government about the dangers of 'ruining' the island through over-development. Qala mayor PAUL BUTTIGIEG outlines why the need to safeguard Gozo's traditional charm has never been more urgent Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt