PN government will expand Mġarr port, Bernard Grech pledges

A Nationalist government will expand the port of Mġarr and build a new link road to it, Bernard Grech has pledged.

The Nationalist Party leader acknowledged that several “technical challenges had to be overcome” but insisted the existing port infrastructure was struggling to accommodate fishers, industry, tourism and ordinary travel.

“The Mġarr Port needs to grow and an alternative road, a substantial part of which can be a tunnel, will be constructed because the current road with a single lane going up and another going down is unacceptable,” Grech said when interviewed on TVM’s Popolin.

The Gozo Ministry had filed a planning application back in 2019 for the construction of a road that would cut across Ġnien Migiarro behind the row of buildings along Triq l-Imġarr and eliminate the roundabout at the top of the hill. Part of the road was to be an underpass.

However, in December 2023, the Gozo Ministry told Newsbook that plans for the project had been shelved.

Grech reiterated that a PN government would invest in two new ferry ships, one of them a cargo vessel operating from central Malta.

When asked by the programme host where the money for these undertakings will come from, Grech said EU funds could be tapped to build vessels that run on cleaner fuels such as hydrogen or gas.

“But we also have to see where we stand today with the MV Nikolaus, a third-rate ship, costing us dearly,” Grech said, adding that a PN government would replace the Nikolaus with a new ship.

The Nikolaus was first leased as Gozo Channel’s fourth Ro-Ro passenger ship in 2019 at a cost of approximately €8,000 a day in the off-peak months and €12,000 a day during peak months. The Greek-registered ship is 38-years-old and has issues with regard to accessibility for the elderly and people with difficulties.

Last January, Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri told parliament he could not divulge what the lease for the MV Nikolaus was costing public coffers because he was given legal advice this was “sensitive” information. He was replying to a parliamentary question by PN spokesperson Alex Borg.

Meanwhile, on Popolin, Bernard Grech reiterated that the PN had managed to rekindle people’s hope. He said the European and local elections last year showed that people were trusting the PN.

He insisted that in parliament the Opposition was interested in speaking about people’s problems and offering solutions to them.