Paul Portelli (The Sunday Times, January 9) and other contributors in favour of linking Malta and Gozo with a bridge are missing a very important point.

Even if, as a nation, we can fork out the money to have it built, this does not mean that the financial burden for Gozitans is over. A toll for using the bridge will surely need to be paid.

Mr Portelli compares the situation to “some of the most beautiful bridges in the world”. Yes, they are beautiful but they incur a toll. Also, these bridges are in big cities with millions of people. One cannot imagine a bridge that links Malta and Gozo having the same amount of traffic. So in this case the cost would definitely be more difficult to justify.

This does not mean one should not debate ways of linking the two islands. Some time ago we had heard about the interesting idea of using funicular cable cars. Besides being a less intrusive option, this is a much less costly option to implement and maintain.

Connecting Malta to Comino and Comino to Gozo could also improve accessibility to Comino while not ruining the island with any traffic.

Let us debate the matter but do not naively expect that a bridge will make all transport costs go away.