No alternative for job losses in Gozo manufacturing sector

Labour MPs Anton Refalo and Justyne Carauna hit out at the government yesterday for failing to provide new areas of activity to replace the rapidly declining manufacturing sector in Gozo.

The criticism was made when Parliament debated the budget estimates of the Ministry for Gozo. Both MPs observed that in the budget debate last year, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said the chances of Gozo hosting large manufacturing firms were getting remote. Yet, one year on, it was evident that people dismissed from manufacturing jobs were not finding alternative employment.

Dr Refalo said Gozo was sick and needed to be treated like it was a patient.

The sister island was getting just two per cent of tourists, hotels were closing to be replaced by apartments, Xewkija industrial estate was a cemetery and Gozo was getting only a fraction of funds allocated to Malta by the EU and under the Italian financial protocol.

Gozo, Dr Refalo said, was rudderless. The opposition had long called for proper regional accounts and statistics for Gozo. Yet the Gozo Chamber of Commerce was charged Lm50 when it requested Gozo unemployment figures from the ETC.

Rather than having a new Spring, the Gozitans had seen a steep rise in unemployment and the end of the helicopter service. Ferry fares had gone up and would go up again next month while workers in the cafeterias of the ferries had been dismissed. The building of the ferry terminal at Mgarr had been frozen. The abattoir had been closed down, forcing herdsmen to take their animals to Malta for slaughter.

Dr Refalo insisted that there should be positive discrimination for Gozo in view of its insularity. Malta Enterprise had approved Lm25 million in new projects for Malta. Why had nothing been done for Gozo?

In his budget speech, the Prime Minister had listed the same projects for Gozo that the Nationalist opposition had decried so loudly under the Labour government such as a golf course and a yacht marina.

Dr Refalo said the Gozo armoury had disappeared, there was a shortage of nursing staff in hospitals, and the arbitration centre in Gozo did not exist. What was the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools doing in Gozo? Hardly anything, it seemed. MCAST courses were lacking, and there was also a shortage of teachers.

The Labour MP insisted that the Gozo ministry needed to do more for the diving industry in Gozo. There should be proper care to ensure that there was no leakage from the waste transfer station at Mgarr ix-Xini which could contaminate the area.

Dr Caruana also highlighted the problems of the unemployed in Gozo, observing that the majority of the unemployed in Gozo were under 30. Bakers were considering reducing their workers due to the increase in the price of kerosene and the surcharge in water and electricity.

Not enough huts had been provided for SMEs and the rents for those who already had huts were being raised 400 per cent.

Dr Caruana said the prospects of cruise liners stopping in Gozo were being harmed by the fact that Gozo Channel expected to be paid per passenger until last summer. At least, cruise line passengers did not have to travel accompanied by waste, as ferry passengers did.

It was shameful that the former helicopter service had not been replaced by a new service on time, when the governemnt had had plenty of warning that the old service could not continue.

Gozo was being completely eliminated from tourism brochures because the helicopter service had stopped.

Dr Caruana also complained of shortage of medical equipment and facilities in Gozo.