Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman for Gozo Victor Galea yesterday said that the Labour Party would be more credible if it declared which bays in Malta and Gozo were to be converted into yacht marinas.

“We expect that the Labour Party will not shy away from specifying which bays are being proposed for this type of development before the general election. We also expect the Labour Party to explain how it is going to ensure the protection of the environment should such marine vessels supplant swimming zones. A case in point is the Mgarr Marina locally known as iz-Zewwieqa, which, since its ‘conversion’ has become a ‘dead beach’, no longer frequented by Ghajnsielem residents.”

“On the other hand the Nationalist Party has declared itself in favour of transforming Hondoq beach into a marina. Could the Labour Party stop playing with words and state where they are proposing a marina in Gozo?”

Ironically Labour wants to ensure that the proposed yacht marinas are “to be run on the international Blue Flag standards to protect the environment”. “Why is the Labour Party so passive in parliament, failing to insist upon rendering existing marinas as Blue Flag zones?” queried Mr Galea.

“Destroying what everyone enjoys for the benefit of a few, betrays unsound judgement. Such obsessions on golf courses and marinas which would replace the natural habitat and destroying our patrimony do not augur well for the opposition party in parliament. At the very least, the nation expects the opposition to act as a pressure group in order to

avoid irreparable environmental exploitation by dint of unscrupulous land speculation.”