The police had to intervene to calm angry residents of Qala during a rowdy meeting in the village school this afternoon about the proposed development of a yacht marina, hotel and other facilities in Hondoq Bay.
The shouting, which had characterised the Mepa-organised public consultation meeting, reached a crescendo during remarks by the deputy mayor of Qala, but the situation quickly calmed down without the officers having to eject anyone.
The meeting is part of the Environmental Impact Assessment into the proposed project, by Gozo Prestige Holidays, which includes a yacht marina, a 170-room five star hotel, tourist village and restaurants. Development is to be contained within the site of an old quarry alongside the bay.
Residents voiced their concern about the impact that traffic would have. Whenever a Mepa representative mentioned traffic arrangements – for example that traffic would not pass through the village centre and that trucks will be monitored – the room exploded into a booing chorus.
PL councillor in Qala, Paul Buttigieg, who represented the Harsien Hondoq Group, said another EIS ought to be issued that gave a clearer picture of the impact of traffic to residents quality of life. As he spoke, footage of people at Hondoq Ir-Rummien, taken last summer went on behind him on the insistence of the public. He pointed out that the footage showed the popularity of the area as a place where Gozitan families with low or medium income could relax without spending much money. If the project went ahead, he said, these people would not have an affordable place to socialise.
The meeting turned rowdy even before it started.
Qala residents who arrived just before the advised 3 p.m. time for the meeting found over half the hall already filled with men involved in the Gozo construction industry.
The residents who did not find seats were heard protesting loudly at being prevented from entering the hall. Paul Buttigieg of the Harsien Hondoq (Save Hondoq) group insisted that partitions at the back be removed to make more space.
Before this could be done, some people took matters into their own hands and moved all the seats towards the podium so that all could be accommodated.
Mariello Spiteri, the EIA Coordinator, opened the meeting with a 10-minute outline of the project which, within the first few minutes has been subjected to rowdy contestation, especially upon his stating that construction trucks would not pass through the village.
The chairman of Harsien Hondoq also gave a presentation, amidst constant shouting from the public on the developer's side of the hall.
Astrid Vella of Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar echoed the concerns of MEPA's Natural Heritage Advisory Committee about the planned project and argued that the environment impact assessment was not impartial.
She cast doubts on promises of monitoring of such a project, saying that other projects had seen caves destroyed and dust thrown into the sea in great quantities.
The developers later replied that precautions are planned to ensure that this would not happen.
Mrs Vella also quoted a report prepared by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the Maritime Authority and MEPA, which did not even include Hondoq in its list of 12 potential sites for a new yacht marina in Gozo, due to its pristine waters.
The developers rebutted, saying that the report found Hondoq suitable for a yacht hard standing which would inflict greater anti-fouling pollution in the area.
Objectors in the crowd pointed to the fact that yachts in the marina would still pollute the sea with anti-fouling.
Mrs Vella asked how the project could even be considered in the Eco Gozo context when there were no proposals for alternative energy. She then asked to say a few words in English for the benefit of foreigners present. She was greeted with boos from the the public.
Gozitans insisted that only Maltese is used and start shouting and booing whenever an English word was used – much to the frustration of English-speaking foreign residents - some who have lived in Malta for over 10 years – who stood up to signal their presence in the room.
Following Mrs Vella, other NGOs were due to speak, but Vince Farrugia Director-General of the GRTU took the floor amidst loud contestation from NGOs, the Local Council and the public.
Some shouted that the GRTU was not an NGO to which Mr Farrugia asked why they feared his opinion.
He argued that it was very difficult to attract foreign investors to Malta as the competition in tourism was cutthroat. “We don’t need them,” one person yelled while another shouted:”they don’t come because of the bureaucracy".
To this Mr Farrugia said: “They don’t come because of people like you.”
Gozitans, he said, were not even letting Gozitans invest in their own country, Mr Farrugia said to much shouting which made much of his speech incomprehensible to most.
“Whenever an investor comes to try and invest in Gozo, you are telling him to leave,” he said.
When matters calmed slightly he made an impassioned plea to allow investment to go ahead and said the authorities should not heed objections which would limit job creation in Gozo. At this members of the public jeered, pointing out that many tourism employees in Gozo were foreign. Mr Farrugia pointed to the investor's heavy expenditure in studies to ensure the best project for the area, which he claimed presently resembled a rubbish dump.
The representative of the Gozo Business Chamber stated that the Chamber was in favour of the project as long as MEPA ensured that there was a balance between protecting the environment and creating jobs in Gozo. (boos)
“Did you forget about Eco Gozo,” one person yelled.
Alex Vella, Chairman of Ramblers Association, said it was true that investment was needed in Gozo. He asked, however, why such investments were always at the cost of land in Outside Development Zones. Why should private profit take precedence over public interest?
Paul Buttigieg (PN) the Mayor of Qala,said that the local council was not in favour of the way this project was being presented, mainly due to the effect on the residents. The Mayor found several instances where the EIA did not reflect the reality of the situation at Qala and Hondoq. He made a strong call for the project to be assessed according to MEPA reform parameters.
He claimed that the Social Impact Consultant did not stick to ethical guidelines since results of residents residing outside Qala were included with those of Qala residents. Similarly, the Traffic Impact Statement included three traffic counts, one near the Qala Local Council and the other two, outside Qala, one of them as far away as Mgarr. He insisted that the traffic impact statement was dishonest, not mentioning that the main artery to be used is only 4.2m, and not 7m wide as claimed, and seemingly totally unaware of Qala's system of one-way traffic.
Dr Mario Vassallo, the Social Impact Survey consultant, took umbrage at the allegation that the social impact survey was dishonest, saying that after all Hondoq Bay was not reserved for the residents of Qala only.
Several other residents spoke. Most insisted that while they were not against some sort of development, they wanted the actual bay to remain free of development and they needed constant monitoring to ensure that the sea remained clean and access to the bay was not stopped. They also insisted that trucks should not be driven through the village.
The developers argued that the trucks would be diverted away from the village.
People can write in as part of the consultation process to eiamalta@mepa.org.mt until June 3.