Wild thyme and blue votes

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is now working hard to project himself as Malta's environmental messiah by building the largest national park in Malta at Xaghra l-Hamra. Nineteen months ago he was projecting himself as Malta's tourism messiah and wanted to save our tourism industry by building a golf course at Xaghra l-Hamra.

At the end of October 2005, presenting his Budget for 2006, he said: "We must decide what we want as a nation. Do we want only mass tourism, which yields a small return and which places great pressure on our infrastructure, or do we want a high value product that attracts quality tourists?

"If we want quality tourism, then we have no alternative but to provide the facilities that these types of tourists seek... My government does not hesitate to shoulder its responsibilities and takes decisions that are in the best national interest, even if such decisions will not please everyone.

"We are convinced that there is a need for a golf course and I have no doubt that, in due time, even those who are today not agreeing with us will eventually judge us to have acted correctly."

Nineteen months later and after throwing away more than a third of a million Maltese liri, Prime Minister Gonzi has come round to those who opposed his planned destruction of Xaghra l-Hamra and instead of apologising for wasting public money he wants to be congratulated for not destroying ix-Xaghra l-Hamra.

For more than a year Prime Minister Gonzi and his government repeated the mantra that the solution for Malta's tourism industry is the advent of "quality tourists", and these can only be attracted by turning a large area of natural land at Xaghra l-Hamra into a golf course.

When Dr Gonzi announced his intention to build a golf course at ix-Xaghra l-Hamra in October 2005, I was among the first to criticise this decision. I argued against government's plan to build a residential golf course in Xaghra l-Hamra at Manikata.

I stressed that the Labour Party did not agree with the destruction of so much natural heritage. It was clear for me that a golf course at Xaghra l-Hamra is just a fig leaf to cover the naked property speculation that is being planned to destroy one of the few remaining garigue in our overbuilt island.

Dr Gonzi had first to throw away more than a third of a million Maltese liri before coming to the same conclusion. He could have saved taxpayers all this money simply by reading market intelligence reports on the development of golf courses in the rest of the world.

Dr Gonzi's government entrusted the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) with the project of the proposed golf course at Xaghra l-Hamra, declaring that this facility would bring an additional 30,000 tourists to Malta. MTA paid all the expenses incurred on the project.

Government had promised that all these funds would be recovered once an entrepreneur would take over the construction and development of the golf course. Now that this golf course project has been shelved, taxpayers have to pay for the prime minister's folly of wanting a golf course at ix-Xaghra l-Hamra and we are expected to say 'Thank you!"

Property speculation

Dr Gonzi was very short-sighted when he chose ix-Xaghra l-Hamra as the site for the golf course. Many golf courses round the world have gone bankrupt following the reckless philosophy called 'If we build it, they will come'.

In many countries golf course resort development (including time-share resorts) has often resulted in widespread speculation and dubious practices, and is frequently a hit-and-run business. The speculative nature of memberships and associated real property transactions also makes the industry very high risk.

A month before Dr Gonzi declared that he wanted to save Maltese tourism by destroying ix-Xaghra l-Hamra by building a golf course on it The International Herald Tribune (September 30, 2005) reported how "speculators" around the world are driving the construction of residential golf course projects far more than they did in the past.

"It's a slightly more scary market," Muriel Muirden, managing director of Europe, Africa and the Middle East region for Economics Research Associates, said. "No one is sure who the ultimate end users will be."

The US newspaper explained: "While golf continues to grow in popularity, it is the demand for golf course villas powering the construction boom more than any form of golf hysteria."

"Without a residential component, you can forget about a project," said Peter Michel Heilmann, founder of Athens-based INVgolf, which organises industry events and research projects. "The golf course itself rarely makes money."

In South Africa most golf communities cater primarily for locals, but about 50 per cent of Pezula's buyers are a hotchpotch of Europeans, Asians and Americans - and only about 25 per cent play golf, Stewart said, adding: "Golf is not the centre of the business. It is just one of the amenities." "Everybody is building nice courses," Spencer said. So to stand out, "the courses must be presented in a manner that they will be 'must-try' courses". David Spencer's company is spending millions to build golf courses designed by Greg Norman and Vijay Singh in Dubai, even though he knows the majority of his customers will never set foot on a tee.

The IHT articles stresses: "Only about 30 per cent of the people who buy homes along the greens are likely to play golf."

The Labour Party has made it clear that it is in favour of golf courses as standalone developments. The Labour Party wants golf courses in Malta only if they are standalone developments.

We are not going to accept golf courses which are an excuse for property speculation. The big drive that is going on in south-east Europe and even Dubai in favour of golf courses is fuelled by huge property developers pushing the golf course as the green space between the villas.

We don't want this to happen in Malta. While Dr Gonzi was happily announcing his magic formula for saving Maltese tourism by wanting to destroy ix-Xaghra l-Hamra, the Labour Party expressed its opposition and said that this golf project was just an excuse.

Some well-connected people wanted to build villas at Xaghra l-Hamra in Ghajn Tuffieha and tried to disguise their real intentions by pushing for a golf course in the area and Dr Gonzi championed their cause.

So what has made the prime minister review his position? Is it the abundant natural heritage of the area? But that was already obvious when he declared that he wanted a golf course in the area.

Is it because the reports commissioned by government came up with the obvious conclusion that only a residential golf course would be viable in the area?

The coming election

Yesterday week Dr Gonzi distributed copies of a report that was completed way back in July 2006 to the press. The report makes it clear that, in order to be financially feasible, Government will have to give all the land to the developers for free, and refrain from charging any rent for the first 10 years.

Moreover, the developers would require more land for real estate development than originally projected by Government. The study found that in order for the golf course to be viable, enough land for 254 apartments and 28 semi-detached villas had to be allocated, apart from the land dedicated to the golf course.

From an environmental point of view, the report makes it clear that the underlying aquifer can be contaminated. Moreover, the introduction of a suitable turf grass for the golf course poses "an unacceptable threat to Malta's biodiversity".

The report also confirms that Dr Gonzi's proposal to turn Xaghra l-Hamra into a golf course means that "class 1 and 2 agricultural land" will be destroyed.

Moreover, "the dislocation of traditional activities from the area would result in substantial social costs to the local community and to the nation as a whole... the golf course would impact on habitats that are not currently protected but which should unquestionably be protected."

We did not need more than a third of a million liri of our taxes wasted to reach all these obvious conclusions. Dr Gonzi's decision to announce a natural heritage park instead of a golf course is a damage control exercise and part of the PN's strategy to try and heal relations with environmentalists who are angry at the way Government extended the outside development zone scheme last summer and allowing Sliema, St Julian's and Swieqi to be overbuilt.

Dr Gonzi was looking at disgruntled voters in the PN heartlands not at the wild thyme and the garigue of ix-Xaghra l-Hamra when he announced his conversion to a natural heritage park in the area yesterday week.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com