Labour launches development plan for Gozo

The Labour Party yesterday launched a draft plan for Gozo which proposes the setting up of a regional committee to improve the island's social and economic development.

While emphasising the need of a regional identity for Gozo, Labour Party leader Alfred Sant said the proposed council would draw up and see to the implementation of a development plan and would be represented on national boards and on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

The document, based on official government statistics, analyses how the concept of Gozo as a region has been "undermined" in the past years.

The plan highlights the party's priorities, above all, that the island should provide employment for Gozitans especially in tourism, manufacturing, crafts, agriculture and fisheries.

Its main aim is to increase wealth through sustainable economic development, while safeguarding and improving the environment and reducing social gaps.

The strategic aims are to reduce the effects of Gozo's double insularity, safeguard and strengthen its heritage, improve its administration and protect employment while creating new job opportunities.

The document proposes the setting up of a tourism authority and stresses the need for the helicopter service to be subsidised, something EU regulations allow, the MLP said.

In the educational sector, the plan proposes new courses at the university and at MCAST centres in Gozo as well as a special subsidy for Gozitan students following specific university and MCAST courses, such as those related to science and innovation.

The plan makes the case for the development of a recreation and sports centre at the Ta' Xhajma area and for more assistance to the voluntary organisations Arka and Oasi.

Asked about the proposed Bill moved in Parliament recently, which envisages Gozo as a distinct electoral district, Dr Sant described the draft law as a political gimmick by the Prime Minister.

The truth, Dr Sant said, was that Lawrence Gonzi did not care about Gozo. The government was using the electoral districts, which were the fairest over the past 30 years, as an excuse for these to be revised in its favour.

He would not be drawn into saying how the opposition would vote on the Bill.

The party's main spokesman on Gozo, Anton Refalo, said the document was an update of the party's first plan launched in March 1998.

Over the past eight years, Gozo's social and economic situation had worsened in several sectors including in the public administration, manufacture, tourism and transport between the two islands, he said. As a result, Gozitans were earning less, hundreds of jobs were lost and the problems related to double insularity increased.

During the past three years, the number of jobs slipped and more people were working part-time. Moreover, the gross domestic product had gone down.

The plan will now be discussed with stakeholders for a final draft to be published for discussion at the party's general conference in July, the last session of which is to be held in Gozo.

Measures proposed in the document include:

¤ A fiscal and financial statute for engaged and married couples and single parents for buying their first residence among others.

¤ The setting up of a regional council with the aim of improving the social and economic development.

¤ The restructuring of the Gozo Ministry to function as an executive branch of the regional council for the implementation of the development plan.

¤ Ensuring that Gozo would get enough EU funds for its level of development to reach that of Malta and eventually the EU's.

¤ The setting up of a tourism authority having its own specific funds and whose main aim would be to market the island as a distinct tourism destination.

¤ A subsidy for the helicopter service together with the creation of a direct public transport route from the airport to Gozo.

¤ A subsidy to have a public transport service that made more social and economic sense.

¤ The building or extension of a yacht marina.

¤ An extension to the sandy beaches of Marsalforn and Xlendi.

¤ The building of a golf course.

¤ The rehabilitation of the Xewkija industrial estate.

¤ The building of an alternative road to Mgarr.