Nationalist MP Charlo’ Bonnici this evening urged the government to reconsider its plans to build a new road at Ghadira.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Bonnici said he did not doubt the good intentions of the project, which was to save the sandy beach from erosion.

“However important this beach is, I still do not feel it is justified to harm other areas just a few metres inland by building another road which could cause us the loss of 500 Danish tourists who come to Malta every Saturday, as they have been doing for 30 years,” Mr Bonnici said.

This new road, he added, would be built in an environmentally sensitive area which also formed part of the Maltese tourist product.

Mr Bonnici said he agreed with the minister (Dr Austin Gatt) that doing nothing was not an option, but if what was being proposed could do more harm than good, his view was that one should not hurry unduly, in order not lose EU funds.

Malta should seek more time so that it could more carefully consider its options.

He said the Danish Village, Foresta 2000 and the bird sanctuary constituted value added for the country, and he knew first hand of tourists who stayed at the Danish Village and then went on to praise Malta abroad.

He said the importance that the budget was giving to the environment should not be thrown to the wind with projects that would evidently be harmful, even if the aim behind them was noble. In contrast to what was happening over Ghadira Bay, some projects took too long to be decide on. A case in point was the Opera House project which could now finally go ahead.