Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1476751
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 AUGUST 2022 NEWS NOTICE We would like to inform our esteemed clientele that Mr. Adrian Attard is no longer employed in the Sales Department of Construct Furniture Co. Ltd. Clients who have placed orders with Mr. Adrian Attard in the past and whose orders are still pending are to contact Construct Furniture Co. Ltd without any delay up to 15.09.22 on telephone number +356 9964 5121 - Mrs. B. Agius Clients wishing to place any orders are to call personally at the factory at 40, Industrial Estate, Luqa We also would like to advise that currently we are on our Annual Summer Shutdown and we will be back, refreshed and committed to serving you, on the 23 rd of August 2022. We look forward to seeing you all at our factory. NOTICE We would like to inform our esteemed clientele that Mr. Adrian Attard is no longer employed in the Sales Department of Construct Furniture Co. Ltd. Clients who have placed orders with Mr. Adrian Attard in the past and whose orders are still pending are to contact Construct Furniture Co. Ltd without any delay up to 15.09.22 on telephone number +356 9964 5121 - Mrs. B. Agius Clients wishing to place any orders are to call personally at the factory at 40, Industrial Estate, Luqa We also would like to advise that currently we are on our Annual Summer Shutdown and we will be back, refreshed and committed to serving you, on the 23 rd of August 2022. We look forward to seeing you all at our factory. NOTICE We would like to inform our esteemed clientele that Mr. Adrian Attard is no longer employed in the Sales Department of Construct Furniture Co. Ltd. Clients who have placed orders with Mr. Adrian Attard in the past and whose orders are still pending are to contact Construct Furniture Co. Ltd without any delay up to 15.09.22 on telephone number +356 9964 5121 - Mrs. B. Agius Clients wishing to place any orders are to call personally at the factory at 40, Industrial Estate, Luqa We also would like to advise that currently we are on our Annual Summer Shutdown and we will be back, refreshed and committed to serving you, on the 23 rd of August 2022. We look forward to seeing you all at our factory. MATTHEW VELLA THE health ministry is demand- ing compensation from Mater Dei Hospital's private contrac- tors, over faults in its HVAC systems that forced the overseas transfer of radiotherapy patients to Italy. Cancer patients receiving ra- diotherapy had to be sent to a Rome hospital, after a malfunc- tion in the linear accelerators at the Sir Anthony Mamo On- cology Centres that was caused by problems with the air condi- tioning system. A medical linear accelerator – two of which were purchased for €20 million for the Sir An- thony Mamo Oncology Centre in 2015 – is the device most commonly used for external beam radiation treatments for patients with cancer. It delivers high-energy x-rays or electrons to the region of the patient's tumour. The health ministry set up an internal inquiry board to deter- mine what led to the faults. MaltaToday is informed that neither HVAC installers Er- gon nor maintenance contrac- tors Technoline, have accepted blame for the failure of the air conditioning system. The HVAC system includes an alarm that is set off when the chillers connected to the linear accelerators, are not functioning properly. This newspaper is informed that both companies have blamed each other in submis- sions to the internal inquiry. But the government is insist- ing that the expense incurred to transfer patients to Italy for their radiotherapy, should be compensated for by both com- panies. Cancer patients had to be re- categorised according to the severity of their case, with the most urgent cases sent to the Rome hospital. Rome radiotherapy compensation demand MATTHEW VELLA HOW many people could pos- sibly live – comfortably – on the island of Gozo? That's a question the Gozo Regional Development Authority (GR- DA) wants answered by a carry- ing-capacity study for the sister island. Now home to at least 39,000 residents, which include Mal- tese residents who own a sec- ond home in Gozo, the GRDA wants to find out which "areas or sectors" are close to satura- tion point, giving rise to pres- sures on infrastructure and landscape. The study will focus on the Gozitan island's transport, roads, energy and water distri- bution systems, land and nat- ural resources, and economic industry and public services, to see how well the island is served for its developmental needs. The GRDA will use the study to create new regional policies for Gozo, both for its socio-eco- nomic development as well as for the sustainable management of its land resources and protec- tion of the environment. The study will have to assess Gozo's present carrying ca- pacity, by identifying deficient factors for the island's infra- structure, environment, and economic development; iden- tify critical infrastructural and environmental problems; as well as limiting factors in land resources, energy supply, waste treatment, and healthcare pro- vision. The carrying capacity will be also provide three sustainability scenarios – conservative, high sustainability, low sustainability & degenerative. According to the 2022 Census, the Gozitan locality of Żebbuġ, which also includes the sprawl- ing Marsalforn seafront, has seen its resident population nearly doubling from just 1,841 in 2011 to 3,303 in 2021, thanks to an increase in the locality's foreign population from 125 to 1,371. The number of Maltese res- idents in Żebbuġ has also in- creased by 216. But foreigners now account for 42% of Żeb- buġ population up from 7% ten years ago. Żebbuġ growth mirrors that of Munxar which includes Xlendi, which has also seen its foreign population in- crease from 94 to 619. Gozo in general has seen a sev- enfold increase in the number of foreign residents; from 1,357 to 7,662 since 2011. On the oth- er hand, the number of Maltese nationals in Gozo has grown marginally by 1,607. 26% of foreigners in Gozo live in Żebbuġ and Xlendi. Żebbuġ has now become Gozo's sixth largest locality surpassing San- nat which was more populous ten years ago. Rabat, which has grown by 990 residents since 2011, remains Gozo's larg- est town, followed by Xagħra which had already surpassed Nadur as Gozo's second largest city in 2011. The census preced- ed the approval of a number of five-storey blocks enveloping towns like Qala and Xagħra, which are bound to further in- crease the density of the island which has already increased from 422 inhabitants per sq.km in 1995 to 572 inhabitants per sq.km in 2021. Gozo: eco-island or new cosmopolis? Study to find carrying capacity