The Malta-Gozo Tunnel? [My SOC assignment and thoughts about the matter]

yun_oo_
Oct 26, 2019
4 min read

Updated: Nov 6, 2019

Perdonne moi for the s*** intro GIF.

For the many who might be wondering what the heck a Gozo is (no offense to the Gozitans, it happens to us too), let me clarify it for you.

Gozo is an island found in the Maltese archipelago. It is the second largest island of the area, measuring 67KM2 and, as of the most recent statistics, the islet is home to quite a population; approx. 32,000. (32,723 [2017]).

As you probably noticed already, Gozo is quite advanced in living conditions however, it is not a fully developed Island like Malta and this means that life there can be evaluated and considered as highly developing. It is renowned for its scenic hills and laid-back lifestyle and can be a getaway to many seeking relaxation and a bit of sun (including the Maltese population. Many tend to 'go up' to Gozo for either short or long weekends). Understandably, due to it being an islet mostly, Gozitans are said to be more 'down to Earth' and welcoming (I would say this is a myth, but you know...it's not). Generally, Gozo is equipped with Gozo is equipped with everything (pubs, cinema, hospital, markets, grocery shops etc.) however the size, capacity and number of such can be determined thereon. Another point to highlight about life in Gozo is that, regardless of how small the island is, it does not exclude the fact that you may need a car to get around, especially since Taxi service is very limited and said to be quite pricey.

From a bit of a more negative standpoint, Gozo lacks a lot of principles that are of a more specific requirement and for Gozitans, the only choice they have is the use of a ferry. Solely taking the ferry into consideration, there might be numerous arising issues such as crowds of people all wanting to use the ferry resulting into the need for a second or third ferry to be in operation, and, of course, the famous one, 'if the weather permits'. One major shocking feature of the islet is, for somewhat obvious reasons, there is no Airport; for Gozitan people to want to travel to another country, they have to take the ferry from Gozo to Malta first and when it comes to planning, they may have limits as to when they can actually book a holiday because if it isn't the weather stopping them, it's the crowds of people in high seasons of tourism. The last negative point I would like to discuss is that Gozo's biggest drawback is jobs and opportunities/chances touching upon that. A staggering 95% of all employment opportunities and over, exist in Malta and not in Gozo. To conclude to this, , Gozo has some major limitations as regards to pretty much almost everything. Considering it is an independent state, it does differ from Malta but only in slight ways because it still is a Maltese island (with an independent state) anyways.

Talks of a 'Tunnel'

With Malta ever so constantly changing and advancing into a very contemporary country, there has been major changes in lifestyle on here alone. Malta is not a mainland and for it to become equipped with everything, it had to undergo some serious major changes. The official hospital, Mater Dei Hospital, was only so recently built and open for the public (2007, June 29) It only became fully developed as of last year and is regarded to be a highly industrialised, service-based economy. Malta's economy is practically driven by financial services, tourism, real estate, gaming (igaming) and manufacturing, mainly of electronics. Other significant sectors are pharmaceuticals, information technology, and call centres. (Also, if anyone is wondering, Malta's currency used to be the Maltese Lira [abbrev. Lm] but, as of 2008, January 1st, the currency switched to Euro. Malta has been a part of the EU since 2004, May 1st). Talks of there being a link between Gozo and Malta have been going about in the parliament, and most of the councils and the Ministry of Gozo approve of it. However, ideas have flying about as to exactly how or where or when this will actually become a project. Some of the variable ideas considered were:

2016 September 13th: [Former leader of the Nationalist Party] provided an alternate tunnel project by proposing the setting up of a modern train system stating the traffic congestion is increasing and will, in the near future, make it difficult to travel about both islands.

2018, September 3rd: [Former Prime Minister of Malta 1996-1998; current MEP] called for a light railway system to be built to link Malta and Gozo.

Sant's words:

"a metro network, similar to the London Underground, Glasgow Subway or Newcastle Metro could be a better option for Malta in the long run".

What are my thoughts on it?

I think both ideas mentioned above are good, but not good enough. I think that a tunnel as a permanent link between the two is a brilliant idea, however, the idea of having it partially underwater is even better. I don't just think that, I also think that it should not be a tunnel from which cars can come and go, but a railway system (sort of like a bullet train) that will take less longer to get from one destination to another. Apart from this, there are a number of many other advantages that come along with it such as the advantage of having less money to spend, more time (as mentioned above) to travel, more convenience, more reliability (a bridge, if open, may be closed due to heavy weather, nevertheless, it isn't the case) etc. One thing that have plagued my mind ever since I started to think about this 'bridge' between Malta and Gozo is the profound number of accumulation of cars we will have here. Then again, I cannot bear to imagine the number of cars coming and going to Gozo for short breaks but in particular, Malta will be faced with traffic problems and problems of not having enough space or land for cars to roam about (will most probably create major traffic jams throughout).

With the advantages of a bullet train that runs partially (if not fully) underwater, you don't have a 'higher' bridge that may not allow shipping.

An example worth giving is the Seikan Tunnel in Japan which starts from Honshu and ends at Hokkaido.

Quote of the day!

(I had to)