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THE GOZO TIMES - The Times of Malta - 8th September 2003
Tourist Zone Gozo
Until some years ago the laid back, somehow forgotten state of Gozo actually made up part of its charm. A decade ago nobody made too much fuss about the roads’ sorry state, just to mention one example. But since then, things had actually started to improve, only to look worse now than they did before.
Apparently a Lm200,000 project to rid beautiful San Blas Bay of sewage outfall can’t get pulled off because of red tape. What a shame! But while one of the reasons mentioned by the Ministry for Gozo was to ensure that “tourist zones were not turned into construction sites in peak season” (“Sewage remains a current problem”, Gozo Times, 18.08.2003) no such care is being taken in other parts of the island.
What exactly qualifies a region to be recognised as a tourist zone? If the estimate is correct that during August the population in Gozo triples, who in their right minds can determine that these additional 60,000 or so people occupy solely Marsalforn and Xlendi?
Is Victoria supposed to be a tourist zone? The demolition and new construction of a house in the corner of St Ursula Street (leading to Sabina Square) has been responsible for numerous times in recent weeks when the road had to be closed to traffic. It causes traffic jams and confusion – and apart from that it is quite simply ugly!
Would not Ghasri qualify as part of a tourist zone? Lighthouse Street leads to accommodation of hundreds of tourists in holiday villages and numerous farmhouses in that village. The road was dug up in the beginning of summer and then left in a dusty, hastily patched up state for a few weeks. Promptly another trench was dug up, and for about a month, all works were abandoned, leaving a single usable lane for a stretch of more than a hundred metres, a deep ditch left totally unsecured in the middle of the road.
No warning signs prepared unaware drivers of the upcoming hazard, although someone insinuated that there had been signs initially, which however are said to have been removed by persons who did not want traffic being diverted from their business in that street.
Frequently vehicles meet head-on somewhere along the said trench, and one of them is forced to reverse over a great distance, precariously close to the ditch. The danger is aggravated at night for lack of light (especially during times of power cuts!). – A couple of days ago, works started again with a vengeance, with the trench being extended to the church square.
The village of Gharb is one of the oldest settlements on Gozo. It boasts of some of the most beautiful farmhouses on the island and is home to hundreds more of holiday makers during the summer months. It is mind-boggling that construction works are allowed to be carried out on houses, which - what irony! – are probably meant to be rented out to tourists next season. Should not paying license fees for tourist accommodation give some protection to the owners of these establishments?
Is Ramla Bay regarded as a tourist zone? The main access road leading down from Nadur to Gozo’s largest sandy beach has been in an extremely bad shape for decades. With minor roads having been surfaced and re-surfaced over the last fifteen years, it is unbelievable that a road that is being used by thousands of vehicles every day has been left to rot like that.
Gozo as a whole deserves to be a designated tourist zone. It is being marketed as a haven of tranquillity and peace. However, it does not offer much more than a huge site of works in progress. There is no doubt that works must be carried out at some time or other. But it verges on the criminal to permit all this chaos during the month of August.
Repeating visitors are heard moaning about the dwindling charm of the island, while first-time holiday makers will not find it worthwhile to return. Can we afford to loose them to other destinations that offer the same sun and sea, even history?