Beating Ulysses

Gozo is making the news on various fronts. The ill-born Chambray development project has taken a new twist. The Prime Minister has declared that there will be a golf course on the island, (along with a Casino in the pipeline). And the government has approached two companies regarding a helicopter service, once Air Malta stops the Malta Aircharter service in October.

Were he to plan to revisit his love nest to see how the years have dealt with Calypso, for all his cunning Ulysses would be quite bemused.

Would he be able to copter in? A definite 'yes' answer cannot be guaranteed. Air Malta is stopping its service because it is a loss-maker, notwithstanding the in-built unquantified subsidy in the form of the infrastructure built and manned out of public funds, with no cost recovery.

Air Malta, despite its little problems with the operating bottom line, now said to be improving, agreed to suffer one more year of sharp losses, keeping its helicopter service going till October. Can others operate at a profit? Lower operating costs might be possible. It could be that new operators would use their helicopters more intensively on other activities. Whether any realised savings and increased revenue would yield an acceptable rate of net profit, is another matter. Should fares be raised, the outcome would become more uncertain.

Does Gozo really need a helicopter service? Data produced by Steve Mallia in The Times on August 27 record that users of the service fell to 49,450 in 2002, from 60,695 the previous year. Seven out of 10 of them tend to be foreigners, and the remaining three in 10 split almost evenly between Maltese and Gozitan users.

The 'emergency' aspect of the service is or can be covered by the Armed Forces. Is the commercial side essential? Hoteliers and others in Gozo's tourist trade will say yes. They will observe that a golf course in Gozo is intended to enhance the upper-market flow - making it less easy to get to the island would be a contradiction.

I see the point. I also see Gozo for the great attraction that it is precisely because one can get to it by crossing that lovely stretch of water from Cirkewwa to Mgarr, even if dolphins no longer leap in joyful greeting along the way. With all-weather ports, which should be completed soon if those in charge of the task pull up their socks, and with improved organisation, on both islands, the transfer from Malta Airport to Mgarr, or the other way round, could take not much longer than an hour.

It is not the air connection that makes Gozo attractive. It is its smallness, detachment and inherent beauty. It has been spoilt to an extent, but much remains. It is imperative not to let the damage grow. The Chambray development is part of that damage. It mars the beguiling approach to Gozo. Massed units have sprouted in the fort, built well above the height of the walls.

Whether the golf course is justified, and will be of a calibre to pull in golfing vacationers, is not certain. It is likely, though, that the hotel stock will decline over the next couple of years, and that there will be more apartments going up.

The quiet manner in which the Chambray project has been rejigged is quite intriguing. The government disposed of its share and entitlements in the project without prior fanfare. The public investments minister claimed that the government, being a minority shareholder, could not really influence the deal, and that the state's shareholding was disposed of at a very good price. Few bothered to challenge him. None was from the political class.

The Leader of the Opposition was appropriately scandalised that Memmo, the mysterious figure who gave the project its dubious name right from the start, should pocket Lm2 million from the Gozitan business family who are taking over. He found little else to say regarding the deal itself, not even over the fact that it was not struck under the glare of public scrutiny.

It was taken for granted, it seems, that every nut and bolt in it was scrupulously custom made and in order. There is nothing to show otherwise. But usually, the Opposition does probe a little bit more energetically.

The cunning Ulysses would be indeed bemused were he to make a return visit. He and the nymph Calypso had some good times together. Gozo today might strike him as quite a different fun park. One where even he could be outfoxed. He would probably turn away with a shake of the head. He had guile enough to penetrate Troy. Penetrating the Gozo mist is another matter.