Everybody knows that the councillors of the Sannat local council are representatives of the Malta Labour Party and the Nationalist Party. Nothing wrong with that so far, but to have a council which is not able to take an official stand against the destruction of the picturesque plateau of Ta’ Cenc, which is being threatened by further unsustainable developments, is not acceptable.

The idea of developing this magical plateau has long been earmarked. In the past years, long before the local council was established, people united and protested and somehow the development of an exclusive tourist village on this site was postponed.

However, lately both the prime minister and the opposition leader are both suggesting the destruction of this natural site for the sake of building a golf course.

Even in his Budget 2006 speech, the prime minister insisted on the “need” of a golf course at Ta’ Cenc, while the Labour Party’s discussion paper on environmental policy highlighted the need for a golf course at this site.

More than once Ta’ Cenc was specifically mentioned as a site for a golf course by both the traditional parties’ leaders and other politicians from these two traditional parties.

Although both the Labour Party and the Nationalists stated that they are in favour of golf courses, however they emphasised that a golf course should stand alone and should not serve as an excuse for more building and speculation.

But who is going to believe this? Everybody knows that no golf course is a money-spinner. It is the development around it which is the pot of gold. Destroying the last wilderness areas is a negligible sacrifice for the development that will take place.

The only Maltese political party with a clear stand about this unsustainable development at Ta’ Cenc is the Green Party – Alternattiva Demokratika (AD).

Rightly so, the AD Gozo Regional Committee said that a “proposal for a golf course at Ta’ Cenc remains a threat to the natural and archaeological heritage”. However AD also comes up with alternatives for attracting tourism to the island such as agro-tourism, eco and heritage tourism among others.

One can now understand (but not accept) why the Nationalist and Labour councillors of the Sannat local council are still silent about the issue and did not come up with a clear stance against this destruction of our unique heritage. This is an example where local councillors simply adopt party lines when voting on purely local issues. This is not what we want. Just imagine the difference a candidate of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green Party on the Sannat local council can make!

Tony Azzopardi

New York

USA