Southern makeover

Makeovers have been the in thing for a while. We see them advertised on television, on magazines, on billboards.... Ugly ducklings are promised to be turned into swans. We have even just been assured of a makeover for Marsascala. This paper's title of the report on the conference organised by the Marsascala business community speaks volumes: Government Plans Makeover For Marsascala.

The elementary question that springs to mind here is: So what has the government been doing in the past 20 years? Marsascala and the nearby towns and villages have been neglected to the extent that now we are speaking not of improvements here and there but of a complete makeover.

And the minister for tourism came down south and asked for our suggestions on how to go about this. A bit late in the day, I would say. So let's see what's been happening in this area.

In the 1996-1998 Labour government interlude between the two decades of Nationalist administrations of 1987-2007, we saw the re-doing of the arterial Zabbar Road, thus facilitating entrance to Zabbar and Marsascala. In that period we also saw the waste recycling plant being managed in a way whereby we could continue using it without the operation killing the residents of Marsascala, Zabbar, Zejtun and Fgura with the disgusting smell. A stench we had been accustomed to and which we were to smell again after this span of time when the Nationalists were back in government.

A project on the embellishment of the Marsascala promenade was also undertaken in 1997. Incidentally, the promenade road was also built by a previous Labour government.

During that time, a five-star hotel was built, attracting more tourists and investment to this fishing village, thus stimulating the economy. The bypass to Marsascala was also built then, making Marsascala easily accessible as people would not have to go through Zabbar to get to this village.

What have we had in the last two decades of Nationalist governments? The mushrooming of fish farms, which have turned the once crystal clear waters of Marsascala, St Thomas and Delimara into a murky sea not only unfit for swimming but also disgusting to look at. With this, of course, also comes the death of all the flora and fauna on the seabed.

The swan has indeed turned to an ugly duckling. I wonder how that process will be reversed now in the makeover. Another problem is the way the Tal-Maghluq nature reserve has been neglected. In spite of all the rhetoric on the greening of Malta, it seems that some environments are more equal than others and the victim is always the south of Malta.

We have also had the closure of the one and only five-star hotel in the south of Malta. With the concomitant problems of tourists who want to stay down south in a five-star hotel not being able to do so. This means fewer good tourists for the bars, restaurants and shops in Marsascala and the nearby towns and villages. This obviously affects jobs for people in the area and business in general.

"The government has a project in mind for Marsascala," the Tourism Minister told us at the meeting. Yes, and that's where it remained, in the government's mind. What kept the government from implementing this project? Why is it talking about it now, incidentally, on the eve of an election?

The councils do their utmost. But it is capital projects that I am talking about here. To talk about a north and south divide in tiny Malta might sound strange. But it is a reality. The government is speaking of a makeover; to us southerners it is more of a mirage. What hasn't happened in 20 years won't happen if the electoral bait is swallowed.

Ms Dalli is a sociologist and shadow minister for public function and women.