Heated arguments and constant cross-debates dominated the budget debate for Gozo this evening.

Gozo Minister Anton Refalo said that bereft of EU funds, this year’s budget is the best in the last decade, providing the island with €50 million in capital expenditure.

He criticised the Opposition's "negative" attitude, adding that its lack of concrete proposals was a clear sign of its inability to govern.

The government had transformed the Gozitan economy from a seasonal to an all-year-round one and this had resulted in economic growth of 7.3 per cent during the past year alone.

For 2017, the government was investigating the possibility of expanding the port at Mġarr in accordance with a report commissioned by a Nationalist administration to provide for a second entrance to the port. It would also be investing in a second fibre-optic cable to provide better connectivity, and in a digital hub.

Shadow Minister Chris Said argued there was virtually nothing new in the budget allocation for Gozo. Most proposals were recycled from previous budgets, some – including a proposed study into the viability of a permanent link between the islands – dating from as far back as 2013 and 2014.

Gozo was only being allocated two per cent of government expenditure for 2017, and of the €120 million promised it from the EU funds allocated to Malta, only €900,000 had as yet been allocated.

Furthermore, there had been a severe lack of investment in the island’s infrastructure, with works on the Marsalforn breakwater not yet started.

Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana outlined the government investment in care for the elderly and people with disability specific to Gozo. A sum of €500,000 had been invested in the opening of facilities to house a document scanning centre, which would be offering 80 new jobs to Gozitans with a disability. A care home for the disabled and a residential care home for the elderly had been inaugurated. Live-in care and home respite services were now being provided to Gozitans.

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