I refer to Astrid Vella’s letter entitled “Gozo bridge” (TMIS, 20 October) and I must say that Ms Vella’s comments are completely off the mark. I will deal with her arguments one by one.
Since when is a random survey not considered as being a true representative expression of the opinion of the people (in this case Gozitans)? We know that in a survey one always asks a limited number of people and does not pose the question to all the people. The way surveys have been compiled over the last years have been done very professionally and it is a known fact that even political parties treat these with huge respect and interest. According to her reasoning, those against amounted to less than 75 people with the remaining undecided.
Ms Vella then tries to make a comparison between the Sicily-Italy channel and the Gozo channel. Here again she gets it completely wrong because she considers only the distance and does not take other factors into the equation. First of all, the sea between Sicily and Italy is much deeper than that between Gozo and Malta. If you need to place a pillar at a depth of 26 metres, it is totally different to placing it at a depth of over 250 metres. The proposed Strait of Messina bridge, which was to be a suspended bridge, was to have six freeway lanes, a railway and two walkways. Secondly, between Gozo and Malta there is Comino in between which could be used as a natural bridge to complement a man-made bridge.
She then goes on to say that this massive project is only being done for the sake of a population of 31,000 (Gozo’s population). Wrong Ms Vella. This bridge would be done for the whole population of Malta and Gozo, 410,000 inhabitants. It is important to the people living on both islands, not just Gozo. She is wrong again with regard to the effect of tourism to Gozo. Gozo suffers a lot during the shoulder months. And by the way, the shoulder months over the last years have continued to grow. I personally know a number of people who only cross to Gozo in summer and if the sea is perfectly calm since either they or one of the members of their family get seasick or are afraid to board a ferry in bad weather. If they have a permanent link, they will cross over to Gozo all year round and it would mostly be in winter when the Gozitan countryside is at its best.
When it comes to investment in facilities like the hospital, the reasoning should be the other way round. We increase the facilities at the Gozo hospital so that not only Gozitans but also Maltese can make use of it and relieve the tremendous pressure on Mater Dei Hospital. The same thing would apply for the Law Courts, the Gozo University campus and other.
I would like to finally turn to the cost. From where did Ms Vella get the €1 billion cost for the bridge? The Gozo Business Chamber, which has been insisting on a permanent link via a tunnel, has in its possession a report commissioned by the Faroe Islands, an archipelago of 18 islands with a total of 51,000 inhabitants, that shows the cost of two sub-sea tunnels that have been commissioned over the last decade and the projects for more bridges and tunnels to better connect the islands of this archipelago. Ms Vella also needs to know that since such a venture would be considered a major road network, it can qualify for funding under the Ten-T road network project funding of the EU, which can reach a maximum contribution of 85 per cent of costs. I can also assure Ms Vella that the private sector would be interested in undertaking this project given the right incentives.
Finally, I would like to know how Ms Vella will be proposing to finance the cost of the replacement of the Gozo ferries which will be happening probably within the next 10 years and every other 25 years after that.
Michael Grech
President
Gozo Business Chamber