From Mr A. Gatt

It seems that no part of the Maltese Islands is safe from the developers’ reach. And now Ramla l-Hamra is next on the list, a picturesque bay at the end of an amazing basin, one of a kind out of the half dozen beaches we have on these tiny islands. Yet, preservation of the few assets we have is still unheard of. Do we have to turn Gozo into an urbanised location like Malta? If that is so, what will tourists come over for? Does it have to be an Italian Environment Minister to tell us that we should preserve Gozo and promote it for agro tourism? Aren’t we capable of coming to these conclusions ourselves and acting upon them?

Three of the accessible beaches in this archipelago, that is Ramla l-Hamra, Ghajn Tuffieha Bay and Hondoq ir-Rummien Bay are, to a great extent, still in a pristine condition with the only exception of a derelict building overlooking each of these bays, namely Ulysses Lodge, the Riviera Martinique and a rather huge building blocking the entrance to the valley of the latter. What is even worse is that there are building applications for each of these premises to re-develop them and beyond into functional commercial and touristic facilities. Are these premises really considered necessary to improve the Maltese package both for us locals and for tourism, or would it be much more beneficial if these areas are left in their natural state for the benefit of all? Don’t we have enough bays with hotels and tourist facilities overlooking them? Can’t we have the option of choosing to go to unspoilt beaches? After all we do not have kilometres of sandy beaches to choose from. All together, they add up to a few hundred metres to cater for 400,000 inhabitants plus tourists.

When the government takes a private property (the property of Mr Nobody, a decent taxpayer) in the interest of the country, to build a road (of which we have more than enough) or public amenity, can’t this same procedure be repeated and these three buildings in question be demolished and the areas re-instated to their former natural glory? The only problem with these is that the owners are Messrs Moneybags! Does the government have enough guts to do it? The majority are waiting for this move. Just like Sliema residents were elated when the Jumbo Lido at Qui-si-Sana was demolished and the area returned to the people, Maltese people and tourists alike would welcome such a courageous move, if someone up there is up to the challenge. MEPA are you up to it? The only drawback to this is that there is no monetary gain in this one!

Adrian Gatt

SLIEMA