Dwejra is an area of outstanding natural beauty, rich in history, topography, geology and ecology. It includes the massive Fungus Rock and the fishermen’s harbour known as the Inland Sea. Just a short walk away is the iconic rock formation known as the Azure Window, forming an archway over the sea.
A few weeks after it was revealed that the management board that had been established several years ago, tasked with safeguarding the Dwejra area, had been dismantled, the Gozo Tourism Association and the San Lawrenz local council have now set alarm bells ringing about the safety and integrity of the Azure Window.
There have been increasing fears in recent years that the rock bridge, which attracts thousands of tourists to the area, could collapse as it is eroding rapidly. Yet, they point out, visitors to the area are still walking over the structure, despite the presence of signs put up by the local council advising otherwise.
The nub of the problem is that the council does not have the manpower resources to monitor the area to prevent visitors from walking across the rock bridge and, worse, none of the enforcement agencies seem ready to ensure compliance with the council’s signs.
The San Lawrenz council’s plea raises two immediate questions. What has happened to the promise by the new Minister for the Environment to re-establish the Dwejra management board? On a broader issue, what does the situation in Dwejra tell us about the government’s willingness to deploy manpower resources where they are most needed?
The long-awaited management board, which should become the guardian of the ‘Dwejra Heritage Park’, should have as its prime role finding the right balance between several economic activities that affect the area with the overriding imperative of protecting the integrity of this unique landscape.
Additionally, it will be crucial that they are also given an enforcement role and adequate resources to ensure compliance. This must include that visitors’ safety be protected through the enforcement of bye-laws forbidding access to the Azure Window rock bridge.
The perils stemming from lack of manpower resources at the Azure Window, however, highlight a much broader national concern. This is also about the striking deficiencies in manpower resources in so many public fields, many of which touch upon enforcement and health and safety. There is a cultural aversion, which afflicts successive governments, that leads to enforcement and health and safety rules and other related regulatory activities not being given the necessary resources in terms of numbers and skills to ensure the application of the rule of law.
Although the police force appears adequately manned, its determination to stop polluting cars or bad driving, for example, is extremely limited.
The same applies to traffic wardens. Is this because of lack of manpower or is it because there is no political will? Both these bodies might have been deployed at Dwejra but the council’s pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
In the health and safety area, it is acutely apparent that the resources of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority are extremely stretched. Checks on safety of lifts or cranes, for example, appear to be the bare minimum.
Enforcement by the Planning Authority is notoriously poor and the manpower resources devoted to it are inadequate.The Building Regulation Office is also known to be short-staffed and often unable to ensure building regulations are enforced.
At the heart of all deficiencies lies a lack of adequate manpower resources and, probably more importantly, lack of political will.