The mayor of the Gozitan village of Qala, Paul Buttigieg, is urging the public to be present during a site visit on Tuesday by members of the Environment Planning Review Tribunal, who could decide the fate of Hondoq Bay.

The tribunal is considering an application by developers who want to build a hotel and parking facilities as well as 25 villas, 60 apartments and 200 multi-owner properties. 

“The 19-year-old saga to save Ħondoq Bay from development as a commercialised yacht marina continues. All [those] who love Ħondoq are called to show their support for this cause by attending the site visit on the 30 November at midday,” Buttigieg wrote on Facebook.

“Gozo has lost so much…let's not lose Ħondoq too. Save Ħondoq,” he wrote.

Buttigieg has been spearheading the fight to save Ħondoq ir-Rummien from development for several years after it was earmarked for development. Just last September, he wrote to MPs insisting that the site should be declared public domain by parliament to protect it from development.

The idyllic Gozitan coastal area has been eyed by developers for well over a decade, with repeated attempts to build hotels, apartments and a marina there being stopped at every turn.

Activists have been demanding environmental protection for Ħondoq for years.

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri has said he is against developing the area while the Nationalist Party has said that it would buy back land in the area to turn it into a national park if it were in government.

A public domain act passed through parliament in 2016 included Ħondoq as one of the locations proposed for protection, following a proposal to that effect by NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar. But that law has languished in obscurity and remains unused, five years on.

Buttigieg had a clear message for MPs.

“Go to parliament and change the local plan - the same as you did in recent years when you changed property heights to be higher in Dingli; when you changed the local plan for Ta’ Qali which became a zone for commercial purposes with higher height limitations; and also when Ħal Ferħ became a residential zone instead of a tourist zone.”

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