“According to the Gozo Ministry a study by a UK consulting company six years ago confirmed the collapse of Dwejra’s Azure Window was “inevitable.” There are several points I would like to make here:

“Why did the Gozo Ministry pay for a report by a foreign company to tell them what any Maltese geologist could have told them for nothing? In fact any school kid could have told them that the window will eventually collapse into the sea. The whole point of the exercise should have started from the point that this will happen and asked what could be done if anything to slow the process down. I’m therefore forced to ask if any such study actually took place.

If the study did take place then why given the fact that it was financed out of public funds did the Gozo Ministry not see fit to publish the findings of the report? Do they consider the people too stupid to absorb the findings?

Or was there perhaps a possible means suggested that may prolong the life of the window which the Ministry didn’t want the public to know about due to the expense?

If on the other hand this study didn’t take place then why are we being told that it did and where did the money go to?

If we are to believe the Ministry that such a report exists stating that the collapse of the window is inevitable and that working beneath a potentially unsupported slab is considered to be too hazardous this raises another matter. Given that according to them the Ministry have had this information in their possession for the past six years why are tourists allowed to swim through the window?

Why are divers allowed to swim under water through the window? In fact this is one of the specific areas that the dive leaders take tourists through on their open water dives.

Why are people allowed on top of the window as I myself have photographed the Azure Window and there were people walking around on top of it?

Can the Gozo Ministry comment on why they have allowed this practice to continue for six years when they say they have known for all that time that it was a highly dangerous place to be near?

What we have here it seems is a situation where the Government don’t see a problem with spending around 100 million Euros on an unnecessary new Parliament building which will actually harm the tourist trade by spoiling the look of the entrance to Valletta, yet are not willing to try and preserve a natural area which is one of the major tourists attractions on the islands.”

James A. Tyrrell,

N. Ireland.

Permalink: “The Government should try to preserve the Azure Window”