Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482386
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2022 NEWS LUKE VELLA NGOS have reiterated calls for the closure of Mediterraneo Ma- rine Park, demanding that the Maltese authorities to fine the owners of the park negligence and abuse of dolphins. Moviment Graffitti, Animal Liberation Malta, Nature Trust Malta, Dolphin Project, Ma- rine Connection UK, MSPCA, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and BICREF and other NGOs, are collaborating to demand that the zoo licence of Mediterraneo Marine Park is revoked and ulti- mately, the park closed. During a press conference in front of the Veterinary and Phy- tosanitary Regulation Division in Marsa yesterday, Claria Cutajar from Graffitti said that after the death of the dolphins uncovered the "cruelty and the negligence" that the animals endure, no ac- tion was taken by the authorities against the park. Animal Liberation Malta ac- cused Mediterraneo of covering up the death of three dolphins in the span of a month. Work- ing with UK-based Marine Con- nection and US-based Dolphin Project, ALM revealed that the deaths occurred between August and September 2021. A formal inquiry by the Office of the Commissioner for Ani- mal Welfare over the Veterinary Regulations Directorate's (VRD) handling of the three dolphin deaths determined that the case should have been handled with more scrutiny and attention. They said the VRD only con- ducted "a cursory and fleeting investigation", and did so only after being pushed by the animal welfare commissioner. Mediterraneo said that the deaths of the dolphins were not a result of mistreatment but a "pure accident". "As confirmed by the author- ities that investigated the case, this was a pure accident. After 25 years in operation, we had one incident where an external diver cleaning the pools used strict- ly-forbidden lead weights, which intoxicated the water. This was a huge tragedy for the park." Mediterraneo said all five dol- phins at the park are well-fed, given top veterinary treatment and never mistreated. It said the park only sources dolphins through breeding or by taking one from another European park through an exchange pro- gramme. "We cooperated with the authorities from day one and have always been true to our le- gal obligations and willing to im- prove our processes." Activists seek closure of dolphin park GOZO TUNNEL PAGE 1 An evaluation committee was tasked to scrutinise the four bids to Infrastructure Malta: they were an Italian firm; a Mal- tese company with its primary shareholders being the Chetcu- tis of the Hugo's entertainment chain; a consortium made up of Chinese, Dutch and Turkish companies; and a consortium of French, Turkish, UK and Japa- nese companies. No timeline for the process was ever given for the second stage that follows the pre-quali- fication questionnaire. The Gozo-Malta tunnel pro- ject would have been a 14-kilo- metre subsea road link between the two islands. Infrastructure Malta conducted nine studies, including preliminary geophys- ical and geological investiga- tions based on land and seabed core samples extracted along the proposed tunnel route. It has been a long-held Gozitan dream for a permanent link with Malta, with the first concrete studies in the 1970s dismissing the project as unfea- sible. Environmentalists raised con- cerns about the impact the pro- ject could have on either side of the tunnel portals, apart from the pressure it will create in Gozo for more development. Questions have also been raised on the amount of excavation waste that will be generated. Nationalist Party leader Ber- nard Grech in 2022 floated the idea of holding a referendum among Gozitans after all tunnel studies are concluded. This was shot down by the Gozo Busi- ness Chamber that has been clamouring for a permanent connection between the islands. But even last week, the Malta Employers' Association urged government to shelve expensive infrastructural projects, such as the Gozo tunnel and even its metro system, which it de- scribed as "airy-fairy". "The current strain on public finances calls for a rationalisa- tion of expenditure to bring the deficit to manageable and sus- tainable levels," MEA said. Employers want the 2023 budget should focus on cutting wasteful government expend- iture to bring finances back on track. "Promises of large infra- structural projects – the Gozo Tunnel, the Metro and others – often accompanied by extrav- agant and expensive PR cam- paigns will have to be shelved in favour of more pressing in- frastructural priorities, such as the distribution of electricity, infrastructure for electric mo- bility, and outdated and worn drainage systems in many parts of Malta," MEA said. While noting that the war in Ukraine shattered hopes of a quick post-Covid recovery, MEA said "shortages and sup- ply-chain disruptions have in- evitably raised prices of basic commodities." Pointing out that Maltese businesses are now facing pres- sure from two fronts, MEA said "on the one hand, the ris- ing costs of raw materials and labour is pushing costs up and straining already weak profita- bility margins. "On the other, there is the in- flationary impact on aggregate demand as consumers struggle to rationalise consumption in anticipation of a drop in real disposable income resulting from the inflationary spike." Malta's national debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to reach the maximum 60% limit permissi- ble under the EU's Stability and Growth Pact by the end of the year. MEA said it was doubtful whether government revenues will increase at a rate sufficient to match its expenditure com- mitments. Even Labour MEP and former prime minister Alfred Sant had raised concerns about overde- velopment in Gozo, slamming in particular projects for a Mal- ta-Gozo tunnel and airport on the sister island. "Too many people (most of them Gozitans) agree that de- velopment in Gozo has reached unsustainable levels. Of course, there is truth in what is being said." He warned that Gozo was los- ing the qualities that made it attractive to visitors in the first place. "The island is becoming a mini-Malta and it will lose the genuine value it held that helped attract visitors," Sant said. "The problem is that there are too many ambiguous inten- tions in the market." Sant called out a contradiction in the attitudes of tourism pro- motors in Gozo, who on the one side worry about over-develop- ment, yet support government projects that would see more traffic and development on the island. He mentioned the Malta-Gozo tunnel project and plans for a Gozo airport as such projects. "I can't understand how seri- ous tourism promotors in Gozo will, on one hand, worry about the ongoing development as- pect of things, and on the other hand come out in favour of the monstrous project that appears to have been shelved – the tun- nel between Malta and Gozo. Or [they would] be in favour of that project that has since been revived, although it should have been discarded altogether – that of an airport for passenger airplanes." There has never been a fixed- wing service between Malta and Gozo, and the current heliport in Xewkija does not have a run- way that is long enough to ac- commodate small aircraft. In 1996, when Alfred Sant became prime minister, one of the first decisions he took was to stop the Gozo airport plans started by the previous admin- istration. However, current Gozo Min- ister Clint Camilleri insisted that the Labour government will build such an airfield. He recently tabled a site plan in Parliament which showed that the airstrip would extend be- yond the perimeter of the exist- ing heliport. Tunnel project to Gozo loses momentum