Government plans cruise liner quay in Mgarr

The government is developing plans to build a cruise liner quay on the outer part of the Mgarr breakwater in Gozo that would provide berthing facilities for 200-metre liners, Communications Minister Censu Galea said yesterday.

Speaking at the opening of a workshop at the Grand Hotel in Mgarr held by the Malta Maritime Authority in conjunction with the port authority of Catania, Mr Galea said such additional facilities will provide a supply driven product that would encourage an enhanced demand.

Mgarr lends itself to public-private partnerships that could extend beyond the confines of the port, the minister said.

Mr Galea also referred to repeated calls from cruise liner operators to visit Gozo with Xlendi being one of the stops mentioned frequently in this sense.

The government, he said, is considering placing a 10,000-tonne mooring buoy just outside Xlendi.

The workshop was held in the framework of the Cavalgo project which aims at improving the maritime transport system between Malta and Sicily.