Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/844299
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 JULY 2017 15 Interview A pre-electoral employment spree has deprived several Gozitan companies of their workforce. For Gozo Business Chamber president Joseph G. Grech, this constitutes a crisis that must be resolved small village... and put a road be- tween them. Which will benefit the most? The big city, or the small village?" The small village... "Precisely. The smaller you are, the more connectivity you need. Our preferred solution would be a submarine tunnel connecting the two islands. But it's not enough: the existing ferry service has to re- main. It is an important part of our tourism product. A lot of foreign- ers who come to Malta would nev- er even have seen the sea... just im- agine how much they would have sailed on a ship before. To cross the channel by sea is a huge attrac- tion in itself. Ideally, however, we should have the ability to cross by sea, by land and by air. "But I'm not talking only about physical connectivity in that sense. In today's world, it is important to be digitally connected too. We also need another fibre-optic cable for internet connectivity. As things stand, we only have one: so when foreign investors come here, they always ask what would happen if that one fibre-optic cable were to be disconnected, for whatever reason. With only one cable, the investor doesn't have the peace of mind that, come what may, he would still be able to work. And we all know what it means to work in today's world: each minute is worth thousands of euros..." At the same time, however, ef- forts in the past to increase con- nectivity seem to have failed. Just consider how many other services used to exist, but no longer do... the hovercraft, the sea-plane, the helicopter service. Could it just be that the economies of scale do not work for that kind of transport? "There were different reasons why those services stopped. The sea-plane, for instance, was never very much in demand. But the same cannot be said for the heli- copter. That was a valuable ser- vice. But it was never meant to be a solution for Gozitans who need to commute to Malta every day. It was a highly important part of the tourism infrastructure: the advan- tage it gave was that tourists ar- riving at the Malta airport could continue to Gozo immediately, checking their luggage through all the way. Same with the return flight. In fact, one of the problems today is that – even if the ferry ser- vice has improved – most tourists who come to Gozo end up leaving a day before their flight from Mal- ta. They spend their last night in Malta, to be closer to the airport. When we had the helicopter, on the other hand, the schedule was synchronised with the departure flights; tourists could check in before leaving Gozo. It was more convenient all round..." It was never really economically viable, though... "No, perhaps not. But my view is that – if we really want to retain an essential service like that, and there isn't enough local demand to make it viable – there would have to be some kind of financial assis- tance coming from somewhere." Is that possible under EU regula- tions, however? "There are specific areas where a certain amount of subsidy is per- mitted under European law. The Gozo manufacturing sector, for example, benefits from a small subsidy to cover extra expenses involved in freight and transport. Even so, you will often find that similar products may cost slightly more in Gozo than in Malta, be- cause it costs more to get deliv- ered here. Not to mention that other issue that rarely gets talked about: time. It costs more, in both time and money, to run a factory in Gozo than it would in Malta. This is another reason why connectiv- ity is such a priority for us. A tun- nel would alleviate many of these problems." How feasible is the idea, though? "According to studies commis- sioned by the Gozo Chamber, it would be both feasible, and eco- nomically viable. A tunnel be- tween Malta and Gozo could end up financing itself. But the biggest advantage is how it would affect the Gozitan worker employed in Malta. They would be able to drive to work, as if they were leav- ing from Mellieha. Consider how much time that would save them. There are people here... parents with small children... who never get to see their children at all. They would get up early in the morning to go to work, long before the chil- dren are awake. And by the time they get back – especially in win- ter – their children will already be asleep." To give some perspective on this time issue: how long would it take to commute from Gozo to, say, Valletta... and get there in time to start work at 9am? "Generally speaking, your day would have to start at around six in the morning. But you might want to start even earlier. Between six and 7.30, there is even a chance that you won't make the next ferry, because there will be so many cars trying to board at the same time. In fact, the ferry service runs every half-hour, instead of every 45 min- utes, during those hours. And bear in mind that if you do catch the 7.30 ferry, there is practically no chance of getting to Valletta be- fore 9.30. Because, then, you have to face the traffic in Malta!" He shrugs in patient resignation. " But that, to be fair, is an issue which has to be addressed on its own, and not because of how it affects Gozi- tans. As with all the other issues: we need to sit round a table, and come to an agreement for a long- term plan taking all these priorities into account." us is causing chaos