Of course, yes, but...

Over the past weeks, if not months, I have been intrigued by the pro- and anti-correspondence on the proposals for a golf course at Verdala. Not one of them raised one of the more important aspects - if not the most important aspect - of this issue.

Frank Salt, a highly respected and successful businessman, is in tandem with our Prime Minister in saying that Malta needs more golf courses. In his opinion, if I read him correctly, Verdala would be an imposing site for a premium green. I wholeheartedly agreed, but...

Simon Ellul Sullivan of St Julians (August 27) in "protecting" the environment (Verdala), suggests developing Pembroke instead. However...

A first class golf course can only add to the amenities offered to tourists by our small jewel in the Mediterranean. But (and this is my "but") aren't we really putting the cart before the horse?

Let us take Mr Salt's "but". I agree, Verdala would make an ideal location for a first-class golf course. But does Mr Salt really and honestly believe that moneyed golf-mad people who are used to the lush greens in Portugal and Spain (to name but two popular countries catering successfully for golfers) would come flocking to a grubby, dirty, rubbish-infested island, whose roads are full of mini moon craters (now here the golfers could get a "hole-in-one" every few yards!)? Would they enjoy being overcharged by taxi drivers and insulted by our bus drivers? Or would they prefer to go where the environment matches the greens and where they are appreciated? I know where I would choose.

And now for Mr Ellul Sullivan's "however..."

Here is a man who shoots himself in the foot. He tells us to do away with budget tourists, or perhaps he wants fewer of them, and go for those with spending power, such as golfers.

He then goes on to say: "What have we got to offer the discerning traveller? Overcrowded beaches? Pot-holed, litter-lined roads? All over the world, golf courses go hand-in-hand with five-star treatment." My very sentiments, Mr Ellul Sullivan!

And where is the five-star treatment in Malta, where the "fast buck and get-rich-quick" syndrome rules the roost? Even the government goes for the fast buck with its exorbitant exchange rate. Will, for example, the UK golfers like to lose half their money before they even start spending it? I know I don't like losing half my UK pension as soon as I bank it!

Suppose, as you say, Pembroke becomes a five-star green. Where are the roads to complement it? What will you offer them as a nightlife - the grubby St George's clubs and bars and the area's rubbish-strewn streets?

Despite all these arguments, I do agree with both Mr Salt and Mr Ellul Sullivan (as well as our Prime Minister). A first-class green would be an added inducement for the tourist.

But let us do the basics first by laying the foundations. Let this lazy and complacent administration (and I do vote PN) start tackling seriously the environment issues: Clean the beaches; use proper materials and knowledgeable workmen to make good our roads; start implementing our laws by fining litter louts and penalising smoke-belching buses and other vehicles, starting with the government's own ramshackle fleet.

Once Malta becomes the gem it should be - and not the hovel of a Third World island it really is - then let us start thinking of building five-star golf courses.

It's no good that the government is patting itself on the back for beautifying roundabouts and verges with flowers and bushes. This is only cosmetic, when the rest of the island is one huge rubbish dump.

Clean our environment; enforce the law. Then, maybe, we can compete for the rich purses. But if we stay as we are, not only will the rich not come but we will also lose the "budget" tourists.