Bugibba-Qawra council

The other day I read in The Times that the promenade in Sliema is cleaned every day. The residents of Qawra and Bugibba would be delighted if their area were to be cleaned at least once a week.

The last time our street was swept was early June. Two months have now passed so one can imagine the filth that has now gathered in our street which, by the way, is frequented by residents and tourists alike.

Apart from this, one has to take into account the numerous smelly garbage bags left in corners at all times of the day, where there used to be skips (as these have now been removed). The most dirty and filthy areas are, ironically enough, in front of catering establishments along the promenade where the garbage is left out overnight, which is then collected late the next morning.

The only area that is cleaned often is Bay Square and the only cleaning regime that is applied along the promenade is to throw water on the street so that all the dust and litter is swept to the side and is left there till the first rainfall sweeps it into the sea.

I do not entirely blame the St Paul's Bay council for not keeping this prime tourist area clean as it is up to the government to allocate a separate council entirely for the Bugibba and Qawra area, seeing that a small community in Gozo with a population of about 200 has its own council. Maybe the government has not woken up to the fact that this area has a population of permanent residents of about 10,000, which swells up to about 70,000 in the summer months.

I do not blame the tourists who spend their holiday in this area for vowing never to come back to this island.