Environment Commission: Towards sustainable connectivity between Malta and Gozo

Recalling its proposal of two years ago, the Interdiocesan Environment Commission (KA) urges the Government to publish all the studies and research carried out in relation to:

1. All the alternative options for better accessibility between Malta and Gozo, clearly indicating which option or options offer the most sustainable means of accessibility from the environmental, social, economic and operational perspective;
2. The opportunities for new jobs and investment that may be created thanks to the choice of such option/s;
3. The factors that still deter investors from investing in Gozo when such options, or at least one of them, would be implemented.

The relative studies and research should be published and should include the methodologies used and the questionnaires carried out (where this has been the case). The KA believes that there exists no sound and reliable information in the public domain which could help one make an informed analysis of the possible alternatives which would truly improve accessibility between the two islands. The public is currently being fed information and assertions that are not backed by readily available evidence. Past promises of a fast ferry service and that of a fourth ship in the Gozo Channel fleet are as yet, unfulfilled. Moreover, the helicopter emergency service operating between the Gozo General Hospital and Mater Dei Hospital has deteriorated.

In the absence of an improvement in the existing service and/or the introduction of new services which do not require a hefty capital expenditure when compared to a tunnel, arguments in favour of the latter become stronger, as the other options are not considered, let alone evaluated. Furthermore, the KA reiterates what it said about the subject in October 2013: before reaching a final decision on the project, the charge one would be obliged to pay for the service has to be carefully studied and made public

The economic aspect has to be studied in detail, and will have to go beyond the concept that better accessibility (whatever the means adopted) may solve all the economic and investment challenges of Gozo. There are various factors which determine whether investors decide to invest in Gozo or not, and none of these factors may be solved by a tunnel. The KA looks forward to the publication in full of a Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the various alternative options to the tunnel for vehicular use.

The KA strongly believes that:

1. The project for better accessibility between the two islands is of national strategic importance, and should be decided in a context ensuring better quality of life, sustainability and national economic development;
2. The principle that the people of our islands should have an equitable adequate access to administrative, educational, health and transport services, is absolute and should not be conditioned by the presence of any one means of connectivity;
3. The Local Plan for Gozo and all the other Local Plans for the whole country, which have been prepared long ago, should be published, so that the boundaries of the development zones will be secured. Moreover, the government should revise the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, and the Fuel Stations Policy to ensure that the countryside will no longer be subjected to the abuse it is currently undergoing under the existing policies.