The inspiration to this article came from a person who was attempting to justify the tunnel project on social media. He claimed that the tunnel will give Gozo a level playing field.
My response to him went on the lines that a level playing field begins with having the stadium with enough light and enough green grass to play on. Only then will players want to play and win. They don’t care about the tunnel leading to the football ground.
I read Franco Mercieca’s article and could not help but cringe at every suggestion he made in relation to how Gozitans feel they are second-class citizens and who now are desperate to make a connection to Malta and access those same services which have been lacking in Gozo for so many years.
This is exactly the problem we are shouting about. Without a decent public transportation system, the tunnel is just an immeasurable ecological disaster with minor benefits, which certainly cannot justify its enormous environmental footprint.
We have known for a while that this administration has absolutely no intention to sort out the traffic problems. The only strategy it is adopting is to open the veins for more blood to flow through, while the blood pressure is still increasing.
It is clear as day that Transport Minister Ian Borg is undoubtably backing Mercieca who is probably assuming that he will oust Justyne Caruana in the next electoral rounds as he believes that 85 per cent of Gozitans are all following attentively his every step and supporting him all the way.
Political ambitions come in all shades of blue and red and soon enough I expect a change of heart from those who really want to see Gozo live on
Borg has been heard saying that the tunnel will happen because “Gozitans” want it. Again, this is the crux of the whole issue. A spineless politician with no vision and no leadership skills and no idea on how to raise the expectations bar for Gozitan residents and rather than make them feel secure by assuring them that Gozo will become sustainable, together with Mercieca they are drawing the bar lower, giving “Gozitans” what they “want” and throwing away all possibility of Gozo ever becoming the island it was meant to be since the very early settlements, when it was the largest exporter of cotton (qoton). All in the name of their egoistic and ruthless political ambitions.
Where are all the promises that Gozo will have the services it requires to make it habitable - a cruise liner berth, a waste water management system? Why is the Għajnsielem retirement home still in construction mode after almost seven years?
Why is Gozo not directly connected to Europe to make it the best connected and best test platform in Europe, giving it the possibility to have a state-of-the-art remote surgery medical research facility giving medical students the ultimate experience of trying out new advanced technology in the medical sphere, whereby remote surgery will be tested and enable the student to quickly go to the other end to see their own results on mainland.
Why does Gozo not have full-time courses running at ITS and University and Mcast, cutting down the necessity for students to have to pay thousands of euros in rent, food and travel?
Where is the Gozo Business Chamber in all of this? It keeps harping about an expensive report drafted by Gordon Cordina, years ago, and which was just a total waste of money as it failed so miserably to even begin to understand the needs for Gozo. Why?
Simple because GBC commissioned Cordina to evaluate a Hobson’s choice and not propose significant improvements to the economic sustainability of Gozo. Anyone doubts this, look at his contribution to the Regional Committee Authority strategy and just compare it to GBC’s report and anyone with enough presence of mind would realise how irrelevant the GBC report is to what is really in the mind of the present minister and her appointed experts.
If anyone imagines this project is about Gozo and “Gozitans”, whoever these aliens might be, naivety would be a gross understatement.
This is not about making Gozo a better place for anyone. This is not about giving Gozo a breath of fresh air. This is all about megalomania and about the political ambition to win Gozo in the next election and presumably take on Labour Party leadership after Joseph Muscat leaves.
One might argue that even the Nationalist Party has come out in favour of the project and therefore my assumptions are ridiculous, yet political ambitions come in all shades of blue and red and soon enough I expect a change of heart from those who really want to see Gozo live on to see the bright future it deserves.
Steve Pace is a strategic thinker.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece