Just a few weeks ago we were being constantly told that the modernising/reactivation of the waste recycling plant at Marsascala and the siting of large-scale fish farms, also off Marsascala, were both in the interest of the residents. Now we are being told that these projects are in the national interest.

This latest shift from local to national interest was reported in another section of the press, namely in Il-Gens Illum on March 25.

If ever proof was needed of our penchant for warping our priorities, this must rank high in the prize list.

I say this because high in our nation's priorities list must surely feature an urgent plan to revamp our ailing tourist industry, a situation recently so amply exposed by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

Instead we have our policy makers, including Mepa, hell bent on wiping off forever the very valid tourist potential that lies in Marsascala. How is it possible that no one in office can realise this? Who decided that Marsascala has nothing to offer to the tourism sector? 

Marsascala can, and is willing, to contribute much more in the national interest than to just receive the nation's rubbish. We can definitely increase the national tourist product by exploiting the natural beauty and national heritage around Marsascala.

Our locality can offer a pleasant, away from it all, tourist destination that is near to the airport, most of our prehistoric heritage sites, Valletta and the Grand Harbour.

Why not create a climate for investment much needed in the tourist sector rather than persist in scaring away what we already have here in Marsascala? Why persist in saying goodbye forever to the possibility of obtaining the Blue Flag status for our sea because of a large-scale fish farm industry which would only benefit a few individuals, probably foreign ones at that.

We could create much needed job opportunities in the tourist sector for our youths.

The magnificent tower (picture) opposite the Jerma Palace hotel is lying useless and crying out for a worthy project linked to tourism attraction. The Jerma Palace would definitely find an investor to re-furbish it should the locality be included in the Tourist Zone rather than the waste/fish farm zone. The other tower between Marsascala and Xghajra will soon collapse through gross neglect.

In this context, I would like to appeal to our first resident, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, to instruct his Cabinet to revise this senseless, outdated strategy projected for Marsascala. He should not in any way feel that in so doing he could be accused of favouring his home town but rather he should feel proud of what this locality could achieve for the national interest through a revised strategy that would transform it from the projected waste/industrial fish farm zone into a deservedly tourist zone.

No one should be impressed by the results of a so-called survey tabled in Parliament recently by Minister George Pullicino who is claiming that only 10 per cent of the residents think that they will be worse off with the proposed large-scale fish farm project. That survey is simply not worth the paper it is printed on. It was a sly exercise constructed in a way that whoever was duped into answering it could not but play into the hands of whoever craftily set the multiple choice questions. Almost all the questions could not but return a positive answer. It was like an examination where it was made sure the candidates would all obtain high marks and the failure rate would be very low.

Then, on the eve of the local council elections, we had the announcement that a sizeable recreational park would be built adjacent to the waste recycling plant, as if the waste recycling plant is some sort of attraction. OK, there is nothing wrong in finally approving a project that has been on the drawing board for ages but the proposed park site was only abandoned because way back it was already the site of a smelly landfill and was never rehabilitated. Who are we trying to kid?

After turning Birzebbuga into the free port, and building the power station in Marsaxlokk, how is it possible that we rubbish the last remaining seaside resort in the south instead of exploiting its potential. Is there some reason we should know about?