Comino needs to be saved from ‘neglect and ruin’

A heritage organisation plans to submit a Comino rescue report in a bid to save it from “neglect, vandalism and ruin”.

Wirt Għawdex, an NGO spearheading a campaign to rehabilitate the island, has drawn up a report which will be submitted to the Gozo Ministry in the coming days to highlight sites in need of ­attention.

“The whole island is crying out to be saved from total abandonment and extinction,” NGO secretary Giovanni Zammit told The Sunday Times.

The report follows a failed attempt by the Gozo Ministry and Malta Environment and Planning Authority to set up a management committee to discuss the ecology, heritage, economy and environment of the island eight years ago.

Back then, despite talks, studies and research, little headway was made and Comino remains unprotected, unmanaged, un-restored and at the mercy of vandals and the elements.

Few are aware of the numerous and intriguing sites scattered around the three-square-kilometre island, other than the Blue Lagoon and Santa Marija Tower.

“Comino could be transformed into a gem encompassing our heritage, biodiversity and social history,” Mr Zammit said.

There are doubts regarding safety at the only chapel on the island, dedicated to Santa Marija, since it has not been maintained for some time. Yet ceremonies are still being held on the premises.

A nearby cemetery, once important to the tiny community, has now become an eyesore. Peeping through its locked gates, all one sees is vandalism and neglect.

This is also the case with one of the island’s largest buildings, a rundown hospital which once cared for scores of soldiers and villagers.

A weathered scout group sign hangs over the former abandoned bakery, once a food source for the island’s facilities and residents. Roofs are collapsing, pipes are leaking and stonework is crumbling, the NGO said.

The only site that has been restored and maintained is the Santa Marija Tower. Once occupied by the army, it was recently vacated and handed over to Din l-Art Ħelwa to be opened to the public.

However, a battery which was also handed over to the same organisation for restoration has now been abandoned. The remains of camp fires within its walls are occasionally visible and vegetation continues to ensnare the gun platform, whose wooden mounts are in a critical need of treatment before they collapse.

Wirt Għawdex is also calling for better facilities and enforcement at the aptly-named Blue Lagoon, which attracts thousands of locals and tourists every year.

“The site is still a free-for-all with regard to moorings, landing and embarking of visitors from the inadequate jetty,” it said.

In a report on the site, the organisation points out that three hawkers have somehow taken over part of the ramp near the jetty “to ply their business with the captive visitors”.

“Tour and party boats and other ferry operators from Malta and Gozo still arrive en masse and back up to dangerous, unofficial landing ramps to disgorge their occupants who then have to make the hazardous trek over the rocks to the jetty and road.

“There is no visible sign of any supervision, control or ­management of marine activities in the lagoon although much talk was made,” it pointed out.

Wirt Għawdex is also campaigning for the rehabilitation of the campsite, or rather, what it called a “levelled marsh” with no sanitary facilities.

The pig farm which was meant to be dismantled and removed altogether continues discharging sewage in the sea, according to the organisation.

Wirt Għawdex asked what has become of plans to expand the existing hotel, which it said would claw large swathes of virgin garigue extending well beyond the existing footprint.

“This committee has much work ahead of it and it is hoped it will proceed without delay since Comino is under serious threat from thoughtless vandalism, neglect and private ambitious developments and needs immediate intervention to save it. The eco-Gozo project can be the catalyst and will finally give Comino the importance it deserves,” it said.