Ghadira project would be abandoned if studies are negative

All environmental and scientific studies on the Ghadira road project are to be held and if these prove negative, the project would be abandoned, the Infrastructure Ministry said.

Replying to a statement by the opposition, the ministry said the government was to hold all the studies required by law so it was not true that it was using the case to divert attention.

In a statement this morning, the Labour Party's spokesman for the environment, Leo Brincat said there were clear indications that the Ghadira Road issue was raised at this moment in time to divert the public's attention from the new water and electricity tariffs.

But the people's anger over this project was so big that the government was in a state of panic, Mr Brincat said.

He observed that the Prime Minister had remained silent on the issue and used a spokesman from his office to promise that a scientific study would be held before the government bound itself with the proposal submitted by Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt.

Had there been a serious government, Mr Brincat said, it would have said whether studies were held to indicate that Ghadira Bay would suffer if a status quo was retained, how it would suffer and over what period. It would also have said whether studies which clearly indicated that the proposed project would halt such a loss had been held.

The government, Mr Brincat said, should also say if there were ongoing studies on coastal erosion.

Mr Brincat asked how ethical and acceptable it was of Dr Gatt to confirm in a news conference that the government would forge ahead with this project when next to him he had the environmental consultant who had prepared the strategic environmental assessment for Ghadira in the name of the hotel which the media had been speculating would greatly benefit from Dr Gatt's proposal.

The ministry said that the 2004 study by the environmental consultancy firm Adi Consultants showed that the current road was badly affecting the ecology of Ghadira Bay.

He said it was not serious and ethical of the opposition to doubt a professional report just because this was commissioned by a hotel in the area. The fact remained that this report concluded that the development of the current road in the 1980s had badly affected the bay.

The government wanted a holistic solution which addressed the infrastructural, environmental and economical aspects and its project would be based on the studies to be held in the coming months.