Pre-eminent fudge

All the brave words about the government's choice of Ghajn Tuffieha for a golf course amount to a pre-eminent fudge. The choice has followed from a very, very subjective decision: for its own sweet reasons, the Gonzi administration just wants a golf course to be sited there, period. True, the Prime Minister asked for the planning authority to suggest a number of locations for such a venture. That was another fudge.

When the planners did not suggest what the government wanted them to propose, the Prime Minister popped up with his preference. And, hey presto, the planners suddenly said, yes truly, Ghajn Tuffieha is the best site. It would have been more honest, more serious, more transparent, had the government plumped right from the start with its choice and defended it politically or however without having to fudge as it has been doing for the past few weeks.

Labour was from the start on hard ground when it came to evaluating the issue. As of 1996-1998, we stated that Malta's tourism needed to boost niche attractions, among which golf, in order to make the five star hotels that had mushroomed a good business and work generating proposition.

However, the development of golf courses had to take into account, apart from tourism strategy, that other vital need to preserve what is left of our environmental heritage for all the people, as well as the need to safeguard as much as possible any available farmland.

We had stated - and have continued to propose - that space should be made for three golf courses: one in Gozo and two in Malta. The latter could take the form firstly of an extension and upgrading of the existing Marsa facility and, secondly, a new course could be built in the area lying around Maghtab, from between the Pembroke/White Rocks sector to Salina - surely a zone which is in dire need of a revamp and is bordered by a string of five-star hotels. Labour reiterated its proposals in our 2003 election manifesto. They remain valid.

By contrast, Lawrence Gonzi's proposal to construct a golf course at Ghajn Tuffieha makes no sense at all from the national perspective. The PN administration slumbered over the golf course issue for six years, till suddenly the Prime Minister woke up one day to claim something needed to be done.

However, his proposal flouts all the conditions which any decision should satisfy. The Ghajn Tuffieha site is well away from the major tourist prime facilities. It will only benefit the owners of the new hotel being built close by. One of the few remaining zones with stand-alone natural beauty will be totally subverted. A big swathe of agricultural land will also go down the drain.

So where's the gain? Or better, to whom goes the gain? Down the grapevine, the word is that the project is still not being well defined... What will come along with it, to make it "viable", is an estate of luxury apartments spread over the whole zone, which could be farmed out as time-share or as a buy-and-let operation. A stand-alone golf facility, so the word runs, cannot make money. But make money for who, and how?

In past weeks, despite the pressure by sundry interests, Labour kept back on purpose from taking a stand on the issue of the Ghajn Tuffieha golf course. The government propagandists were waiting for us to say no right from the start so they could then claim that saying no amounted to collusion with the negativism that they try to tar Labour with. We let civil society - namely residents of Manikata, environmental organisations, farmers' groups - have their say.

I was not surprised by their reactions. That we back them now is natural. It was amusing to listen to the government ministers, already with their back against the wall, decrying Labour's "opportunism". Current members of the Cabinet had better get off their high horse and start listening to the people.

The Ghajn Tuffieha golf course makes no economic or environmental sense, from a national point of view at least. In the coming weeks and months, Labour will give full support to all those who are endeavouring to stop the project. We will give backing to reasonable moves to create golf courses within the parameters I have described. This should happen in a partnership between the government and all interests involved.

To be quite frank, I for one, do not blame the government for all that has been going askew in the tourism sector. There are too many hidden agendas here, just like in the fields of politics, academia, and Church affairs.

For instance, I have been amazed over the past week by the number of people from the tourism sector who have called to say they agree with Labour's position on golf courses. Yet, in public, they stay silent. Which reminded me of how bemused my colleagues and I used to frequently feel when meeting official representatives of the tourist sector. Their leaders would tell us quite strongly it was imperative for the government to halt the building of new hotel stock. Then we would find that these same people were, in their private capacity, pushing the government to agree with their plans to build or extend their hotel capacity.

It is within the national context that one should evaluate the current proposal to create a golf course at Ghajn Tuffieha. The response to it must be obvious: thumbs down.