Unfortunately, Franco Scicluna has been left alone to promote the development of an airstrip on Gozo because all those persons, associations, clubs etc. who, like him, believe that a small 800-metre airstrip is beneficial to the well-being of Gozitans, their visitors and their exports, are simply throwing in the towel, tired of fighting the bureaucratic establishment and inconclusive reports prepared by so-called "experts".

Then comes divine intervention in the form of a short contribution by Fr Mark Cauchi (September 29) proposing the construction of an airstrip on the sea at Marsalforn. According to Fr Cauchi the problem can be solved "quite easily" but his suggestion is not as simple as he seems to believe and presents enormous engineering and financial challenges.

First of all he chose the wrong model to copy - (RAF) Gibraltar. The truth is that only about 2,000 feet of the 6,000-foot runway is built on reclaimed land from the relatively shallow sea while the original 4,000 feet of runway was hewn out of solid rock when the airfield was built in 1939. The classic example of an airport entirely constructed on reclaimed land is the famous Kansai International Airport in Japan, which is a multi-billion dollar project built over a period spanning almost 10 years. It is one of the most challenging engineering projects the world has ever seen during the past 50 years, and, notwithstanding the technical competence of Japanese engineers, it suffers from a relatively worrying rate of sink that has to be monitored by computers.

The cost to build an airstrip on reclaimed land north of Marsalforn Bay will be astronomical. It has to be realised that even a relatively short 800 by 25 metre runway strip would require a two-kilometre perimeter sea wall (up to five metres above sea level) made of reinforced concrete down to depths averaging 15 metres.

This sea wall would be even longer than the famous Malta Freeport breakwater and would require something like 80,000 cubic metres of salt-resistant, steel reinforced concrete plus two million cubic metres of backfill aggregate.

To increase the stability of the tarmac runway, a sub base platform would need to be laid consuming something like 16,000 cubic metres of concrete. Apart from the runway, land has to be reclaimed to provide space for an apron, maintenance hangar, fuel depot, taxiways, terminal with fire station, car park and the causeway to the mainland! A rough guess estimate for a small regional airstrip built entirely on reclaimed land north of Marsalforn Bay would be delivered with a price tag of about €30 million and at least five years to complete.

Although it might be tempting to include in the argument the fact that the reclaimed strip of land would also act as a breakwater, transforming Marsalforn Bay into an all-weather marina for nearly 1,000 yachts, the cost in money terms and the adverse environmental impact on the seascape would probably never justify such a massive capital project.

On the other hand, the proposed solution in the form of an 800-metre airstrip at Ta' Lambert using much of the existing infrastructure of the defunct heliport provides the most effective and feasible compromise between sustainable development and environmental considerations. Forecasts prepared by Aero Club Malta reveal that a small airline employing 39 persons based on Gozo and operating three 19 seat DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft has the potential to transport 83,000 passengers annually between Malta and Gozo plus another 74,000 passengers to "international" destinations.