Calling the Malta-Gozo tunnel into question at this stage through a referendum would “not be appropriate”, the Gozo Business Chamber said on Tuesday.
Such a step should have been undertaken when this project was initially included in the national policy agenda, it said, noting that MPs had unanimously agreed to back the tunnel project back in April 2019 and that extensive work and studies had been undertaken since then.
The lobby group explicitly linked its defence of the tunnel project to calls for a referendum made by Opposition leader Bernard Grech. Grech said on Sunday that if need be, a PN government would hold a referendum to understand whether Gozitans wanted the tunnel.
He said the PN would consult an independent panel of experts to understand whether a tunnel was the best link between the two islands, as the project would not only cost money to implement but would be also costly to maintain and will leave an economical, social and environmental impact.
But that statement did not go down well with the Gozo chamber, which said that the time for referenda had passed and that it was now technical studies which would determine the project's feasibility.
“This is an important long-term project which envisages multiple legislatures. Within this context, the motion that had been approved in parliament, led to an agreement from both sides of the House on the strategic direction to be adopted on this project.
"Tinkering with such an important long-term project which has multiple benefits for the Gozitan society and economy is not acceptable. This would put back to the drawing board an important project which has been in the pipeline for many years,” it argued.
It insisted that the permanent link would level out the inequalities between the Gozitan and the Maltese economy and would make living in Gozo a choice which is not constrained by the present physical limitations.
From an economic perspective, the chamber said, it would mean that the present limitations linked to insularity would cease to exist.