The development options for Gozo

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore a prospective view, a possible scenario for the future of Gozo. This exercise is not intended to be in the nature of a prophecy, but an invitation to an imaginative leap to the future. Gozo is at present going through a historical watershed. Up to a few years ago, the island languished in the periphery of national life, with primitive services, bureaucratic neglect, lack of opportunities in all sectors and, in fact, constituted the "backwoods" in the national psychology. There is usually a metaphor to symbolise the back of beyond in most countries; it is usually geographic in character, like the East or the South; for so many years, Gozo was the metaphor for backwardness. In the last few years, Gozo has made a quantum jump in development-from a third World backwater, located in a corner of the national field of vision, to a central position in national consciousness. There has been a veritable awakening, an explosive and unprecedented expansion in all services and sectors of social life - health, education, infrastructure, administration, transport, public works, employment and sports. Directly represented in Cabinet, decolonised, so to speak from centuries of central hegemony, Gozo found its voice and identity and confidence and created a bonanza in entrepreneurship, investment and business activity in general, raising the standard ofliving and social expectations. No doubt, growth has peaked in Gozo - and now, let us not cavil or begrudge this prosperity - after all Gozo had to make up for centuries of neglect and marginalisation. But where do we go from here? Are we to pursue, frenetically, further expansion and development? Should we maintain the pressure on land utilisation? Should we occupy, crowd, hem and choke open spaces? Is Malta to be assumed as the role model? Is our aim to convert Gozo into a commercial and industrial hub, mesmerised, as we all are, by the glittering success of a Hong Kong or Singapore? Do we believe in a path where the hectic tempo of activity and frenzied statistics continue to rise to a crescendo? Is this course the "open sesame" to a humane future or the fateful key to a Pandora's box? The proposals to be made in this paper, in reply to these questions, are underpinned by a particular point of view based on the following premises: 1. Gozo is another centre of national life and not just another peripheral district; 2. Gozo expects and deserves parity- as distinguished from identity of development with Malta; 3. No social or ecological system is capable of infinite development; 4. "Development in Gozo is not only a matter of social justice but a sine qua non for the attainment of national development" (see Tabone 1992: 4-6). 5. National life is enriched by the co-existence of different models of development and a diversity of options. 6. The landscape, social fabric, the organic balance between countryside and towns and villages -in short, the unique charm and topography of Gozo can be irretrievably savaged in one generation. 7. Development can be broadly defined as the mobilisation of all resources (human and natural) to attain the maximum standard of living and the highest quality of life for all; "quality of life" is crucial in the equation, since there may be 'developments' which are neither sustainable nor defensible from the human point of view since they impoverish the quality of life or irreversibly degrade the environment.