GozoNews.Com

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said yesterday that given the attention it deserved, Mgarr, the gateway to Gozo, could present a far better welcome than it does at present.

“While the government has spent millions on the new ferry terminal, creating havoc in the area for many years while it is built, it has failed to address long-standing issues which are easily solved and cost little to address,” Dr Vassallo said.

The Zewwieqa area forms a small hamlet of boatsheds, bars and restaurants which could co-exist successfully if the government played its part there, he maintained.

A considerable part of the land was taken up by boat trailers that had no business being there.

“The chaos of trailers taking up a large square is a sign of maladministration and poor public investment priorities. Instead we have what looks like a junkyard and a number of abandoned restaurants,” Dr Vassallo said.

The AD chairman added that it has taken eight long years so far to complete the Mgarr ferry terminal with a heavy impact on businesses in the area and great inconvenience caused to ferry clients.

“The government has been responsible for the over development of Fort Chambray, the collapse of that project and its sale in liquidation. It has permitted the construction of the Mgarr Hotel on a cliff edge in exceptional circumstances as a five-star project only for it to be transformed into an apartment block.

“If a lack of business were the cause and excuse for this change of use, then the extension of the Grand Hotel almost next door to the Mgarr Hotel into the valley above it and against all previous planning commitments makes no sense at all,” Dr Vassallo said.

“The greatest reform would be for Gozitans to be represented in Parliament by a Green MP,” Dr Vassallo concluded.