Among those who spoke in favour of the proposed Ta’ Cenc development at the Mepa public hearing on Tuesday was the GRTU director-general, who referred to the whole Ta’ Cenc area as “the queen of Gozo’s tourism sector”.

The GRTU’s Vince Farrugia, who was in the audience that filled the main hall of Palazzo Margherita in Sannat, spoke about the country’s dependence on private ownership and the need to create a balance between environmental protection and economic development.

“Ta Cenc is both economically and environmentally unique, but we must keep in mind that it is a committed area that has been identified for development,” he said, in stark contrast to arguments made by green party Alternattiva Demokratika and environmental NGOs present at the public hearing.

A large part of the hearing was characterised by tension and sometimes even exchanges of verbal abuse between a few of those present, particularly Paul Gauci, who put forward the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), AD leader Harry Vassallo, developer Victor J. Borg, BirdLife Malta (BLM) executive director Tolga Temuge and David Pisani from Moviment Graffitti.

The AD leader pointed out that Ta’ Cenc was one of the most precious treasures in heritage and it was important to consider what was left for the benefit of future generations.

Representatives of the major stakeholders of the tourism sector who attended Tuesday’s hearing, namely the Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprise (GRTU), the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) all spoke about the positive impact that the proposed development could have on the tourism sector.

The MHRA representative pointed out that the proposed heritage park could serve as an all-year-round tourist attraction.

The spokesman from the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise agreed that the proposed “unique heritage park could attract tourists in the shoulder months”, archaeological heritage in the area would be accessible for all to enjoy and bird watching tourism could be exploited.

One of the 100-or-so members of the audience at the hearing pointed out: “Ic-Cisk (former owner of Malta’s first privately-owned bank) himself would not have made available 60 per cent of his property for the public’s enjoyment”.

Another said: “Can you imagine how many people Mr Borg would employ, should the project be given the green light?”

However, Mr Temuge from BLM, confronted the developers, saying the proposed construction, which includes 38 villas, an extension to the existing hotel and a new hotel, would barge right into the bird sanctuary.

At this point, the architect putting forward the EIA argued over what a bird sanctuary actually referred to, pointing out that the area designated for the proposed development was 130 metres away from the Special Protection Area, to which Mr Temuge ironically replied: “Right, a bird sanctuary is there to protect birds from hunters, not from developers”.

During the second part of the hearing, when Sannat councillors were invited to put their questions to the developers, AD councillor John Mizzi brought up arguments regarding traffic management, accessibility and pollution, but he particularly spoke about the importance of protecting the Ta’ Cenc/Mgarr ix-Xini environment and rich archaeological heritage.

Speaking to The Malta Independent yesterday, Mr Mizzi insisted that the whole area was a “massive archaeological site”, with some of the rich archaeological remains in the area, including cart ruts, dolmens, menhirs and even troughs dating back to the Romans, had not yet been excavated and would inevitably be damaged, should the development be given the go-ahead.