Speaking at a press conference in Qala, Gozo, Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Dr Harry Vassallo said the extraordinary damage caused to the landscape by hard stone quarries is an unforgivable extravagance.

“It has been more than a decade since MEPA itself surveyed the situation in its Minerals Topic paper and made several valuable recommendations which have been allowed to blow away in the wind,” Dr Vassallo said.

“In the past 10 years a bad situation has been allowed to deteriorate with further extensive damage being done to our natural and heritage assets all of which could have been easily avoided,” Dr Vassallo said. “All hard stone material required for concrete and the building of roads can be imported at lower costs if government got off its hands and removed the indirect taxation making such importation uneconomic,” Dr Vassallo said.

“The Qala hard stone quarries are a colossal eyesore that could easily be rehabilitated, which would restore a significant stretch of Gozitan countryside to its pristine state. Instead of causing damage to the site and spoiling a further stretch of countryside around its periphery, this quarry area could be a fruitful agri-tourism centre providing jobs and profits for its workers and operators,” Dr Vassallo said.

“For the past 10 years, regardless of the careful documentation of the situation by its own agencies, this government has done nothing at all to address the harm. The government has left operators bound to existing market conditions with no programme of reform of the sector in which they can address their energies to turn eyesores into profit-making enterprises. As in many other sectors, the government has failed to provide direction making it impossible for even those operators who recognise the grim future they are creating for themselves and for others, to continue to founder,” Dr Vassallo added.

“The Qala quarry is just one of very many such quarries all over the country, which are a liability but could turn into a significant asset. Almost all hard stone quarries are located in superb countryside areas and all are candidates for rural development projects benefiting from EU funds aimed at creating income for residents and enterprises in rural areas,” Dr Vassallo continued.

“Not only are the quarries themselves a huge wasted resource, but the operators and their employees are also a vital resource to bring about positive change which remains unrecognised by the government,” Dr Vassallo added.

“If the government had the imagination to come up with a proposal, if it had the courage to make it and to seek authentic consultation with all stake holders, if it had the credibility to persuade them that it could be relied upon, what today is an ongoing environmental disaster can be turned into a source of income, employment, profit and also a project in which all Maltese and Gozitans can take pride,” Dr Vassallo said.

“Instead the government participates in the corrosive symbiosis of politics and big money perpetuating the status quo, preventing escape for all concerned from the downward spiral of uglification, and loss of potential of our economy for the future,” Dr Vassallo said. “As long as the two big parties continue to require millions of liri to fund their election campaigns, they will not allow such industries to restructure to their benefit and to the benefit of the whole country. What is needed is the ability to recognise our problems, to face them with courage and to have the conviction to transform them into opportunities. Simply carrying on as before has no future,” Dr Vassallo said.