23 June 2007 Rating 1% No Comment  

The unprecedented public outcry against the granting of a permit for the building of 23 villas on the hillside below Calypso's cave, overlooking Ramla l-Hamra bay, has taken the authorities by surprise. In addition to letters in all the media, in the space of just a few days, a petition launched on the www.saveramla.com website has attracted over 6,800 signatures and 137 web pages of comments against the project. With all Malta's environment groups united in organizing a National 'Save Gozo' Protest this Monday 25th June at Citygate, Vallletta at 6.30pm, the event is going to be preceded by an all night vigil at Calypso's Cave in Xaghra this evening, starting at 9.00 pm. This will kick off the protest against the development proposed at Ramla l-Hamra, which is exceptionally rich in its natural beauty and archaeological heritage. The peaceful event is intended to highlight how the proposed development will destroy once and for all the quasi-pristine state of the site that survives from the time of Homer. And how the project will irreversibly impact the unique cultural site that attracts thousands of visitors who marvel at the setting as described in the great epic, where Ulysses was entranced as much by the beauty of the place as by that of the goddess. The vigil is being organized on the initiative of the Ramblers' Association in collaboration with Flimkien g?al Ambjent A?jar, Din l-Art Helwa and other environmental NGOs with the full collaboration of the Xaghra and Xewkija Local Councils. All those who have at heart the cultural and natural heritage of the Maltese Islands are then urged to attend Monday's National Protest. Ramla is the issue today, but after this, nowhere is safe. Hondoq and Ta Cenc, Xewkija, Nadur and Ghajn Tuffieha are already under threat. The public is urged to make its voice heard by attending this protest against the ongoing destruction of our treasured landscapes.