Busuttil pledges to start working on Malta-Gozo link ‘straight away’ if elected

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday pledged that a new Nationalist government will start researching and working on the permanent link between Malta and Gozo “immediately.”

Dr Busuttil was speaking at a press conference at the Cittaddella in Victoria, Gozo.

He said that if the Nationalist Party is elected, in the first 100 days following the election, geological research will be conducted to confirm whether a tunnel between the two islands could be constructed. If the goahead is given, then “the Nationalist government will start the financial and tendering process, so that the work will take place as soon as possible,” he said.

Describing the project as one that is in the interest of “both Malta and Gozo”, he said that “this is not a project that will happen from one day to the next, but we will start straight away, progress will start straight away.”

Dr Busuttil said that the past four years of the Labour administration have been “wasted” when it comes to the progress of the Malta-Gozo link, saying that things regressed instead of progressed.

He said that a new Nationalist government would also reintroduce the cargo service between the Grand Harbour and Gozo as well as a fast-ferry service between Malta and Gozo.

During the conference, Dr Busuttil also restated the financial pledge which he launched the day before; an incentive to give €10,000 to young couples/families to settle in Gozo.

He also said that the PN will commit itself to declaring Gozo a ‘dedicated region’ by amending the law, following which a regional committee will be created, taking care of everything for Gozo. This would be separate from the Ministry of Gozo. This will give Gozo the status of an island region recognized by both Malta and the European Union and will allow Gozo to negotiate from a separate financial package from the European Union “specifically for Gozo,” of up to €205 million, he said.

Dr Busuttil spoke about the Public-Private-Partnership contract negotiated between the government and Vitals which saw the privatisation of the Gozo General Hospital. He called the contract “unacceptable” as it was negotiated with Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri. He emphasized that Gozo’s ‘only hospital’ should not be privatized and said that a new PN government would instruct the Gozo Minister to tell the owners of the hospital that it must be “given back to the people of Gozo.”