Supporting a Malta-Gozo tunnel before the necessary studies are carried out and published is irresponsible, according to a collective of Malta's NGOs.

In a statement released on Wednesday, 13 organisations said that since the benefits and impacts of the tunnel were not yet known, the Parliamentary motion which gave political backing to the tunnel last Wednesday was a non-starter. 

The organisations said that, since this motion did not have legally binding implications, it simply represented an affirmation of the political commitment to build a tunnel.

Read: Wirt Għawdex voices 'major concerns' about proposed tunnel

"However, this is a blind commitment since, at this stage, crucial data and studies have not been presented, including the most basic fact of whether the tunnel will indeed reduce journey time between the two islands," the NGOs said.

They added that it was "questionable" whether a relatively narrow tunnel with one lane in each direction, through which up to 9,000 cars will pass daily, would reduce the average journey time, when taking into consideration the capacity of the tunnel itself as well as higher congestion along the routes leading to and from it.

Read: Could a 'permanent link' become a traffic bottleneck?

While the approved motion did refer to the undertaking and publication of studies, "common sense" dictated that a commitment to the tunnel option should only come after such studies were carried out and published, not before.

Moreover, these studies should not have the tunnel option as their point of departure, but should objectively compare different options in terms of costs, impacts and efficacy, including for example, a fast-ferry service, they said.

Earlier in April, several organisations filed a judicial protest against the Minister for Capital Projects to publish all studies pertaining to the proposed tunnel.

They also asked for a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to be carried out as required by national and EU laws.

The 13 organisations behind today's press statement are:
Din l-Art Ħelwa, Ramblers' Association of Malta, Nature Trust (Malta), BirdLife Malta, Friends of the Earth Malta, Moviment Graffitti, The Archaeological Society Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Kamra tal-Periti, Futur Ambjent Wieħed, Isles of the Left, Bicycle Advocacy Group and Żminijietna – Voice of the Left