Despite pledging to invest €25 million in its Eco-Gozo vision by 2012, the government had only invested €1.5 million so far, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
The government announced its Eco-Gozo vision in 2010 with the aim of transforming the island into a sustainable eco-island by 2020. As part of the project, the government proposed the implementation of 80 action points and €25 million worth of investment by 2012.
Speaking during a Labour Party activity in Gozo, Dr Muscat said that the government’s unfulfilled promises on Gozo stood in stark contrast to the PL’s willingness to take “controversial decisions” in order to generate “work in Gozo, for Gozitans”.
He did not elaborate on what was meant by “controversial decisions”. In a statement in reply, the Nationalist Party implied that Dr Muscat was telling entrepreneurs of his plans in closed meetings but failing to reveal them to the public. It challenged him to speak publicly of the “controversial decisions” he had in mind.
Dr Muscat called a number of Eco-Gozo promises into question, asking what had happened to proposals to develop open-air film studios and a micro-enterprise park and a court in Gozo, among others. Only €1.5 million, or six per cent, of the promised investment had materialised so far, he said.
In its reply, the PL called Labour’s promises for Gozo “hypocritical” and said that, despite the rhetoric, Dr Muscat had not made any concrete proposals for Gozo. This, the PN said, reflected Labour deputy leader Toni Abela’s admission that the PL had yet to devise a viable policy for Gozo.The Gozo Ministry refuted Dr Muscat’s claims that Gozo was being neglected. Investment schemes had saved 195 business owners over €1.2 million in income tax, the ministry said.
Dr Muscat said that although Gozo’s environment had to be respected and its character maintained, investment in its economy was paramount. He said that the PL wanted Gozitan organisations to have a say in Gozo’s development. In fact, the PL had presented a motion calling for the Gozo Business Chamber’s induction into the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, a motion that the government, including Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono and Gozitan Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said, had voted against.
The Ministry for Gozo’s reply was swift. It was not true, a spokesman said, that the government was against expanding the MCESD to include the Gozo Business Chamber. The government had written to the MCESD suggesting it include the Chamber as a member in August 2010.
The government had amended a parliamentary motion on the MCESD simply because any change in the council’s membership required the consensus of the various social partners, the spokesman said.
Dr Muscat also referred to last week’s European Commission criticism of Maltese project implementation, saying that the government’s dilly-dallying on SmartCity was evidence of a government that “talks a lot but doesn’t do much”. When the project was announced, the government had claimed that SmartCity would generate 5,600 jobs by 2018. A report in The Times earlier this month found that only a fraction of that number were being employed there. In its reaction to the report, the government had admitted that SmartCity was still not bound by its employment obligations because the government had not yet honoured its side of the deal.
Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt had suggested that the demolition of the Wied Għammieq sewage pumping station was being held up by Malta Environment and Planning Authority delays in issuing permits. Yet, Mepa said that the permit process was stalled while the Water Services Corporation provided it with the relevant documentation.