After a fanfare press conference held last October at Hondoq ir-Rummien – at which Malta Labour Party leader Alfred Sant had deplored plans for a mega tourism project involving the construction of a yacht marina, villas, apartments and a hotel – Dr Sant’s U-turn on the issue this week has infuriated Gozitan Labourites opposed to the project.

It was actually less of a U-turn and more of a 180-degree turn when Dr Sant declared in a televised interview the party would favour the construction of a yacht marina at Hondoq ir-Rummien, but that it was still against the accompanying residential and accommodation developments.

The statement represents a considerable backtrack from the strong opposing stance the party had taken late last year.

Until now, the project’s opponents had taken solace in the fact that while the government has backed the enormous tourism development, the MLP and Alternattiva Demokratika had stood foursquare against it.

But Dr Sant’s remark this week has thrown a new dark cloud over dissenters’ efforts and many Gozitan Labourites feel they have been betrayed by the sudden change of tack.

One thing can be said for the government and AD: they have never changed their stance, but the same cannot be said for the MLP. Labourites, especially those from Gozo and from Qala in particular, have been venting their anger over the latest policy shift.

In October last year Dr Sant – accompanied by MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon, secretary general Jason Micallef, environment shadow minister Roderick Galdes, Gozo parliamentarians Anton Refalo and Justyne Caruana, as well as Labour Qala Labour councillors and candidates – paid a visit to the picturesque site and gave his backing to the project’s dissenters and commended their objections as justified and valid.

Launching an attack against the government, Dr Sant said the country’s leadership was backing the project and, should the development be approved, it would inevitably lead to speculation in one of Gozo’s most scenic areas.

The project, Dr Sant added, amounted to the exploitation of priceless land and what was being proposed was not what Gozo or indeed Qala needed, nor was it a sustainable means of creating employment.

Paul Buttigieg, a Qala Labour councillor and long-time activist against the proposed EUR90 million project in Qala’s backyard, was not available for comment yesterday as he is abroad.

The so-called Qala Creek project, which is back on the table after being shelved following a 2002 referendum among Qala residents that saw 85 per cent voting against the development, is currently in the latter phases of the environmental impact assessment stage.

The development, envisaged to be wrapped up by 2010, would comprise a five-star 170-room hotel, 25 villas, 60 self-catering units, 200 multi-ownership residences, a “village centre” with a small church, administration offices, small-scale shops and restaurants and the 100-150 vessel marina.

But environmentalists fear the mega-project would destroy what is an immensely popular bathing site that it is also used for barbecues, picnics and nature walks by thousands of people every year.

The beach is perhaps one of the most popular in Gozo, boasting some of the cleanest waters around the whole of the islands, while it additionally provides one of the few, if only, safe place to swim when Gozo experiences the prevailing majjistral (northwest winds).

Opponents insist the pristine waters would become polluted as a result of heavy yacht traffic passing just metres from the beach and that, although the sandy beach has not been included in the development as such, the beach as well as the entire surrounding area will suffer and be visually marred as a result of the development.