The Azure Window is showing cracks in the rock. Photo: Marlon George Grech

The Gozo Tourism Association has formally asked Environment Minister Jose Herrera to revise the composition of the Dwejra management committee and give it a seat.

GTA’s CEO Joseph Muscat said his organisation could not understand how it was left out of the committee while its Maltese counterpart, the MHRA, was included.

“We have brought to the attention of the minister our concern and we expect that the GTA is represented on the committee,” Mr Muscat told the Times of Malta.

“Until last May we were pushing the government to take action and proposed the setting up of this committee. The government took our suggestion but left us out,” Mr Muscat said.

The GTA was still awaiting a reply, he added.

The tourism association is the second organisation to object over the composition of this committee.

Earlier this week, the San Lawrenz council slammed the government’s decision to leave it out of the management committee despite that Dwejra forms part of its boundaries.

Mayor Noel Formosa said his council had protested vehemently with the government and was still awaiting a reply.

On his part, the newly appointed Environment Minister played down the issue and told the council that he would consider whether it should also be represented. Dr Herrera’s reply prompted an immediate response from the mayor who said he was not asking for any favours.

“It's our right to be there and the government is obliged to consult us,” Mr Formosa insisted.

The eight-member committee, one of the first initiatives of the new Environment Minister, is to come up with a better management plan for the area, a main tourist attraction on the island.

Chaired by archaeologist Timmy Gambin, the committee includes representatives of the Gozo Ministry, the Malta Tourism Authority and the MHRA.

The committee was reconstituted after an absence of three years.

Opposition shadow minister Chris Said criticised the lack of consultation over the new set up.