We Maltese and Gozitan citizens must be grateful to the Gozitan NGO Wirt Għawdex. In fact, it is thanks to this NGO that we finally managed to really start a debate on the pros and cons of the Gozo tunnel.

Until March 18, we citizens were being kept in the dark by our government with regard to various studies that have been and are being carried out vis-à-vis the planning and building of the Gozo tunnel.

The Maltese government is in fact in breach of the law, since it has not made public many of these studies and is thus contravening the Aarhus Convention, which obliges governments to publish for public discussion all studies concerning  big projects, before any decision is taken.

Luckily, Wirt Għawdex has stepped in and, thanks to the discussion organised on March 18, we have become privy to certain facts that, till now, have been kept hidden from us all. Certain illogical stupidities have also come to light.

In a discussion where we politicians were not allowed to speak, but only to listen (fair enough), former parliamentary secretary Franco Mercieca was the first to take the floor and indeed, despite his unwillingness to reveal the contents of certain reports, we still managed to get some extraordinary revelations from him. Before the discussion started, I took the opportunity to ask Franco Mercieca, in a one-to-one conversation, to publish the geological studies that have been handed in to government over six months ago. I pointed out that this was an obligation required by the Aarhus convention.

His answer was flabbergasting: “You do not understand anything about geology... why should I publish it?”

Basically, the Maltese and Gozitan citizens have no right to know, because they are not considered to be geological experts, but an eye specialist is considered to be one and can have access to such studies.

Unfortunately, Mercieca has a very warped idea of the meaning of transparency. The distinguished ophthalmologist then started off with his official speech. His first point was hilarious. Mercieca told us that Malta could imitate Israel by introducing differentiated payments: one could pay more to use the fast lane. What he seemed to forget is that the proposed Gozo tunnel has only got one lane... and there is no fast lane.

The Aarhus Convention obliges governments to publish for public discussion all studies concerning big projects

He then proceeded to assure us all that there would be no gates and no queues at the tunnel. The tunnel would just be a normal road, like all Maltese roads. What he forgot is that normal roads in Malta are clogged with traffic, with cars very often at a standstill.

We then got a very important detail with regards to the cost of digging out and building the tunnel. Mercieca announced that the tunnel would cost €400 million to build. There was no mention of the cost of maintenance. 

The sum of €400 million is interesting. Former Nationalist minister Chris Said had conjured up the sum of €150 million in 2011. Two or three years later he upped the “offer” which doubled to €300 million. Now we have Mercieca increasing the outlay by a further 33 per cent to €400 million. I wonder what the real amount would be when we hit bingo.

We were then regaled with another juicy piece of information: Mercieca declared that the waste generated by the tunnel digging was indeed a problem. However, he soon confirmed the government’s solution – land reclamation – and went on to add that such solution is a very positive one.

I am convinced that the inhabitants of Qawra, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq and Xgħajra must be enthralled by this bit of news. Mercieca also let it escape that the geological experts commissioned by the government have decreed that for safety reasons the tunnel could not be wider than 14 metres. This is probably the reason why it would only be a one lane tunnel each way.

The information garnered thanks to the Wirt Għawdex discussion is already priceless, when seen in the background of silence and lack of transparency on the government’s part. What is even more heartening for anti-tunnel people like myself is that the Gozitans spoke loudly and clearly on this issue. 

While Mercieca, the government-appointed tunnel steering committee chairman, and Joseph Borg, Gozo Business Chamber president, were totally in favour of this project, Joe Muscat, Gozo Tourism Association CEO, Sean Zammit, president of the Association of Gozitan Employees in Malta, Giovan Pace, a Gozo resident, and Renee Formosa, vice president of the Gozo University Group, all presented valid arguments against the project as is.

Samuel Azzopardi, president of the Gozo Region Committee, brought up a number of pros and cons but, in the end, he pronounced himself in favour of the tunnel.

Thank you Wirt Għawdex for setting the discussion ball rolling in the absence of hardly any information on the part of the government. I look forward to further discussions, in particular after all studies have been published, as the government is legally bound to do.

Arnold Cassola is an independent candidate at the next MEP elections, former secretary general of the European Green Party and former member of the Italian Parliament.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.