Without a bridge or tunnel, Gozo will turn into a cemetery - - TopicsExpress



          

Without a bridge or tunnel, Gozo will turn into a cemetery - melodramatic to say the least! I am attaching full text of article here for those not having online access to Times articles: Gozo risks turning into a “cemetery” if it does not have a permanent link to Malta, according to the vice-president of the Gozo Business Chamber. Joe Borg claims the birth rate on the island has dropped by a quarter over the past 20 years, from more than 400 babies born every year to fewer than 300. Meanwhile, 60 per cent of first-time Gozitan buyers were choosing to invest in a home in Malta instead. “Many people do not realise the profundity of all this,” Mr Borg told The Sunday Times of Malta, blaming the exodus on the inconvenience of catching a ferry to get from one island to the other. Half the building stock in Gozo is vacant, he warned, adding that a solution was needed to breathe new life into the island. His warnings come weeks after a Chinese state-owned company unveiled plans to finance a €4 million study to assess the feasibility of a bridge between Malta and Gozo. Mr Borg is personally in favour of a tunnel rather than a bridge, primarily because he thinks it would be more acceptable to the public since it would have less of an impact on the environment. He also believes it would require less maintenance and could be used in all weather conditions, unlike a bridge which would be unusable during a bad storm. Mr Borg believes a permanent link would boost tourism to Gozo and encourage more Gozitans to keep living on the island instead of moving south. We do not want Gozo to lose what Malta has already lost due to savage construction A former chairman of Gozo Channel, he acknowledges that a permanent link would spell the end of the ferry service as it is today but he does not think it would be missed much, especially by tourists, many of whom have no idea about it until they get here. He also does not see a problem with financial feasibility. In the long run, the investment would be more cost-effective than ferries, which must be replaced every 30 years. Mr Borg also believes the tunnel could get EU funds if it were to be considered as part of the Ten-T network. The private sector could also contribute and the investment paid off with a toll. He compares the project to a similar one carried out in the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which enabled locals to move back home instead of living on the mainland. Most importantly, Mr Borg believes that the Government has a mandate to build a permanent link because this was proposed in the manifestos of both political parties. But environmentalist Alan Deidun is not impressed by Mr Borg’s arguments. Dr Deidun said all of Europe was experiencing a drop in birth rates and a permanent link would do little to solve this problem in Gozo, especially given that many people chose to retire on the tranquil island. Dr Deidun said he was most concerned about the idea of building a bridge due to its visual impact and the effect on the seabed, which is very rich in biodiversity. “With a tunnel you can drill underneath the seabed so the issue becomes more about what you do with the rubble,” he said. Dr Deidun’s biggest worry is that a permanent link would turn Gozo into a “photocopy of Malta”, traffic jams included, as clearly witnessed in Victoria. “What many Gozitans do not understand is that many Maltese want what is best for Gozo. We do not want Gozo to lose what Malta has already lost due to savage construction,” he said, warning that a bridge would also have an impact on Comino because it would most likely have to pass through it. “What is the problem with spending an hour-and-a-half to get there?” Dr Deidun is also concerned by the financial feasibility of such a project and whether it makes sense to spend so much money on this instead of other priorities. “A similarly-priced project with national importance was the offshore windfarm. If we considered €200 million to be expensive in reaching our renewable targets of 2020, what about this?” he said. Dr Deidun points out that a demography study issued by the National Statistics Office in 2011 shows that population in Gozo was not on the decline and the only region of the Maltese Islands which reported a decline was the Southern Harbour District. He also thinks that Mr Borg’s theory of Gozo turning into a cemetery is contradicted by ferry statistics which show increased traffic year after year. timesofmalta/articles/view/20130804/local/Gozo-s-a-cemetery-without-island-link.480663
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 04:27:01 +0000

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