No timeline for Ċirkewwa terminal

There was no timeline yet for the promised ferryboat terminal in Ċirkewwa, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

He said plans had now been changed. The whole project was redesigned and an application for EU funds had been filed but there was no deadline yet.

The Ċirkewwa and Mġarr passenger terminals have been on the cards for some 15 years but while the Mġarr terminal was opened last year, albeit several years behind schedule, work on the one in Ċirkewwa had not yet started.

An application was submitted in January 2008 but the plans had since been changed and Malta submitted a fresh application for assistance under the EU Cohesion Funds.

Addressing a press conference in Mġarr as part of the European Parliament election campaign, Dr Gonzi listed a number of initiatives taken by the government in Gozo. The PN had always given due importance to Malta's sister island, he insisted.

He said over €5.4 million had been invested in the rebuilding of a new road leading from Mġarr to the small picturesque village of San Lawrenz and that the 3.3-kilometre stretch to Dwejra had also been rebuilt.

He pointed out that, just like it did with a number of companies in Malta, the government was assisting companies in Gozo that were adversely affected by the global financial crisis. This was the way the PN translated into practice the principle of solidarity.

At the Gozo General Hospital, the government had invested EU funds for the upgrading of the operating theatre and the setting up of a radiology unit. Nearly €3.3 million would be spent on the two projects. He criticised Labour MEP John Attard Montalto for saying he had been instrumental in the improvement of relations between the EU and Mexico. He also hit out at Labour MEP candidate Edward Scicluna for reiterating his original stance that Malta should not have adopted the euro, a currency that sheltered the country from the financial turmoil. The country could not afford to have eurosceptics representing it at the European Parliament, he stressed.

"The new political season (Labour leader) Joseph Muscat promised will bring very bad weather to this country. The people's choice on June 6 will determine whether these black clouds will stop over Malta," he said.