Gozitans are struggling with the fast pace of development and construction in Gozo, a new study commissioned by ERA reveals.

The study’s authors describe this as a “factor of major concern” for the residents’ well-being and the liveability of the island.

Using a mixture of survey data, interviews and focus groups, the study describes how Gozitans feel that “construction is rapidly changing the characteristics and urban and social fabric of their localities”, reporting a drop in their quality of life.

The study was carried out by the University of Malta’s Faculty for Social Wellbeing, led by lead researcher Mary Grace Vella.

In essence, the research says, Gozitans feel that once quiet, rural areas are being “completely changed by large developments”.

Gozo is being flooded with flats and apartments that are used for a fraction of the year

Gozitans also want better and more stable connectivity to Malta’s mainland, describing this as “both a need and a right”.

“This does not mean that participants agree with current proposed alternative means of connecting Gozo and Malta, but that more studies and consultation should be carried out”, the report’s authors write, seemingly referring to the shelved plans for a tunnel between the two islands.

Faculty dean Andrew Azzopardi, who managed the study, told Times of Malta that the findings show how “we are just eating up the soul of Gozo”.

The lower cost of property in Gozo has also served to attract “people who struggle with social problems or else are foreigners”, Azzopardi says, making Gozo “a good escape route” that has started to “puncture the Gozitan way of living”, with authorities failing to adequately address these social challenges.

The island has also fallen victim to people investing in “drab, bland and tasteless architecture” for speculative purposes, Azzopardi says. “Gozo is being flooded with flats and apartments that are used for a fraction of the year,” he said.

This is not the first time that development in Gozo has come under the spotlight. In a harshly-worded statement published in January, the Gozo Curia called on authorities to protect the island’s “heritage and common good”.

“It is dangerous to give the impression that everything has a price and that our society has lost the value of the common good which is beyond market value,” the statement said.

Authorities have responded to these ongoing concerns by announcing plans for all new buildings in Gozo to have limestone facades in an effort to preserve the island’s distinct characteristics.