The view from Lilliput

Evidently, Ralph Cassar, secretary general of Alternattiva Demokra­tika, writing in The Times of July 7, is an avid follower of the political satire of Jonathan Swift. Entitling his letter Lilliput And The Gozo Tunnel Plan, he links his (and presumably his party’s) opposition to a permanent link between Gozo and Malta, to the masterly accounts contained in Gulliver’s Travels. For him the tunnel proposal is just “promoting silly, ridiculous and Lilliputian ideas”.

Without going into political bickering that interests only a secretary general of a political party, I feel that his outburst portrays his lack of awareness of the need for better accessibility that Gozo sorely requires.

His statement that “a 25-minute ferry crossing does not justify the waste of money being proposed” is indeed proof of this, if any were needed. Some simple questions to his party’s “Gozo Regional Committee” would have revealed to him that boarding a ferry nowadays, one has to be in the queue 30 minutes before, bringing the time for a round ferry trip to two hours at least, if one is lucky to board the planned vessel.

The Gozo Business Chamber has been championing the accessibility of Gozo since its inception. We have been advocating studies into permanently linking the two islands for more than 20 years, and the idea has been mooted on the country’s discussion table for around 50 years. Since January, this discussion has been taken on a different level because it has received attention from the political realm and we all know that ideas proposed can only be effectively realised if there is political will to do them. According to Mr Cassar, “The project will never happen. Dr Said knows this.” What I know is that a pre-feasibility study has been taken in hand by Mott Macdonald. Anything else is pure political conjecture from Mr Cassar’s side.

In February the Gozo Business Chamber set up a Gozo-Malta Permanent Link Committee working independently from the government but at the same time backing its initiative in this regard. This committee is communicating to and with the Gozitan businesses, with the Gozitan community at large and all those interested in Malta. It has been receiving positive feedback in an open discussion forum where all ideas including advantages and disadvantages of such a project are put forward. Mr Cassar’s contribution of a priori bulldozing the idea before it is even discussed cannot be termed as a “contribution” per se.

Mr Cassar mentions various initiatives (renewable energy, agro-tourism, proper public transport) on which the Gozo Business Chamber has been working for years and obviously supports. But does not Mr Cassar think that his party should also participate in a discussion on a long-term plan for bettering accessibility to Gozo? What will happen 15 years from now, when the ferries will have to be taken off the line? Will the government undertake to build a new fleet and will it undertake to build five or six fleets on a time span of 150 years (normal tunnel time span)? Is providing a road for more than 4,000,000 commuters and over 1,100,000 cars a “waste of money”?

If Mr Cassar and his party want to change into a “help” mode, they can contribute positively to this discussion. With such international “green” connections that they have, they could get into contact with their counterparts abroad, be it in the Faroe Islands, Aaland Islands, Norway, Sweden or Iceland, to verify the social, economic and environmental impacts that such linkages have had on comparable communities. They could share their findings with us. They could also play home and start meeting with Gozo’s associations like the Gozo Business Chamber, the Gozo Tourism Association, the Gozo Regional Committee, the Gozo mayors, the College of Gozo parish priests who are all contributing positively in the discussion.

And last, I would invite Mr Cassar to come over to Mġarr at 5.30 a.m. and join one of the morning trips to Malta. If he is lucky and early enough he would take a coffee seated and observe around. Maybe he will start understanding Gozo’s plight. But then we are just Lilliputians!