Again this politically loved theme is once more being tossed around by the political parties as well as everybody interested in earning a quick buck with no consideration as to whether the tunnel is wanted, needed, feasible or affordable.
Supposedly the Gozitans travelling to Malta for work or study want it as it would make travel quicker and easier. Would it really? Buses running in a 13km tunnel would, at 40km per hour, need 20 minutes to travel from Gozo to Malta, the same as the present ferry. When one complains about the length of time it takes to travel from Gozo to Malta, think that throughout the EU a one-and-a-half hour travel time to work is normal.
One thing that the world, let alone Malta and Gozo, does not need are more vehicles. According to a survey, the daily number of 3,000 vehicles travelling between the islands is estimated to rise to 9,000 in order to finance the tunnel. Malta is one of the worst countries in the EU for air quality, and I have to question the plans to increase traffic if we don’t wish to make more use of Mater Dei.
Gozo is usually a quiet place except during holidays when the influx of cars from Malta results in chaos. A survey shows even more Maltese willing to travel to Gozo in a tunnel, which will cause even more chaos.
The Prime Minister had a brilliant idea: to use the tunnel for a metro and not for vehicles, but to make it pay one would need to increase the population of Gozo. Welcome sky scrapers! Where do we all go when Gozo lies under concrete like Malta? Where do we all go when the islands are ruined?
Who cares, as long as enough people are there to use the metro? This sounds like George Orwell; There is no need for the metro but we’ll make one.
If one wants more industrial development on Gozo one should spend more on internet speed and availability. Digitalisation is the future, not more CO2
The so-called government experts have floated a cost of €300 million to build this tunnel. Are they serious?
They have used the planned 16km tunnel between Germany and Denmark as an example of feasibility. This planned tunnel has a budget of €4 billion, and as is usual in Germany, the budgeted figure is always kept low to obtain support and usually ends up at plus 70 per cent by the end of the project. This would result in an expected end cost of €7 billion.
The only way a Gozo tunnel could be built for even €1 billion would be by importing even more cheap labour and paying them peanuts, using substandard materials and design, and to put one’s faith in God every time one drives through.
€300 million? Come off it! Who is kidding who?