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Matthew Vella
A public meeting over the controversial Hondoq ir-Rummien project with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was suspended Friday morning after Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg could not attend due to personal reasons.
Buttigieg told MaltaToday the local council has been given a week’s extension to present its submissions on what the project’s impending environmental impact assessment (EIA) should take into consideration.
The new proposals, a five-star hotel and 285 residential units as well as a yacht marina, are back on the agenda after four years in hibernation, but the Nationalist-led Qala local council has not yet given its submissions on the EIA’s terms of reference.
Last week, mayor Paul Buttiegieg stated that it was “too early to comment on the project”, claiming the council was still examining the developer’s statement, a week before the submissions deadline was due to end.
Campaigners against the project are still claiming a referendum held in 2002, which had been spearheaded by former parish priest Dun Karm Refalo, is still valid: 85 per cent of Qala residents had voted to keep Hondoq ir-Rummien Bay free of development, in a referendum organised by the local council.
Developers Gozo Prestige Holidays have boldly claimed they will make their development an environmentally friendly one and through landscaping, they promise to create the perception that the project is the “work of nature itself”.
The plan is to complete the project by 2010. The developers are pledging they will given an impression that the new village has “evolved organically over the last century”. They are even including a small church.
Set to cost EUR75 million, the project consists of a 170-bed hotel, 25 self-catering villas, 60 self-catering units, 200 multi-ownership residences and 731 underground parking spaces.
Alternattiva Demokratika’s spokesperson for Gozo Victor Galea said the development proposes to change fundamentally the nature of the coastline and the immediate environment “forever”.
Among its submissions, AD have asked for an EIA which will take into consideration the environmental impact precautions and mitigation measures that will be taken by the developers throughout the whole extent of the project to prevent negative impact of noise, air and sea pollution; heavy vehicle excavation and construction traffic; spillages of spoil and rock on roads, public and private property and surrounding natural areas such as the garigue habitat adjacent to the site; restrictions of public access; and damages to roads and property.
AD have also queried about what guarantees will be given by the developers to the people of Qala that the physical, family and social environment of Qala and its immediate surroundings will not be disrupted or damaged at any stage in the long period of development of the project.
Moviment Graffitti urged MEPA to reject the project. The area earmarked for development, Graffiti said, is one of the few remaining beaches in Gozo and the one mostly frequented by Gozitan people.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
Links: www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/08/06/t6.html
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