28 November 2007 Rating 20% No Comment  

Following the MLP's shadow minister for tourism echoing his party leader's proposal to build more yacht marinas on Gozo, Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesman for Gozo, Mr. Victor Galea, 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 in the coming days 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 the shadow minister '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." "The only way to arrest and terminate the brazen arrogance of the PN and MLP is to give them a lesson by electing AD MPs in the coming general election. AD MPs will insist on far reaching institutional reforms: the Whistle Blower Act, Freedom of Information Act as well as the reform of MEPA where the few strong bulldoze over the weak. All these will finally see the light of day with AD in a coalition government" Mr Galea concluded.