Guest Post: Gozo’s Ferry Terminals Are Proof That Malta Has Forgotten What Equality Looks Like
I know, a Lovin Malta opinion piece about connectivity between the two islands sounds a bit dry. But stay with me.
Because what’s happening here isn’t about boats or bureaucracy. It’s about how a country treats its own people.
Every day, the ritual repeats itself. Thousands cross the sea that both divides and defines us.
For some, it’s the commute to work or study; for others, a hospital appointment, a short errand that turns into an odyssey.
The channel between Malta and Gozo should connect us. Instead, it reveals the gulf in our national priorities.
In Mġarr, Infrastructure Malta got planning permission for a proper fast ferry terminal, with a solid, roofed structure, back in 2021. Four years later, not a single brick has disturbed the dust.
The “temporary” tents remain in place, sun-baked in July, rain-soaked in December, an architectural metaphor for the Gozo-Malta relationship: makeshift, neglected, and conveniently forgotten.
Over 700,000 passengers used that service last year. We can finance fuel, subsidise routes, and cut ribbons for photo ops. But a roof, a simple, decent roof, still seems beyond our reach.
On the mainland, the contrast borders on parody.
Sliema, Valletta, the Three Cities, Buġibba, all have modern, shaded, well-designed ferry terminals. Meanwhile, Gozo, the island that contributes and pays like any other, is left beneath plastic tents.
Once again, Gozitans are asked to settle for less, and to do so politely. This isn’t just unfair for commuters; it’s unfair for the workers who spend hours there every day, under the same blazing sun or biting wind.
Even in Valletta, the situation defies logic. The access route to the fast ferry terminal was suddenly blocked off, forcing passengers, many elderly, some juggling prams, luggage, or running late because of traffic, to play roulette with cars across two busy roads.
The simple fix? Reopen the safer route behind id-Dwana, next to the old Harbour Master building that’s been “under restoration” for as long as anyone can remember. But instead, we get cones instead of competence, barriers instead of planning.
This isn’t a partisan complaint. It’s a question of respect. For Gozitans, connectivity isn’t a slogan to wave around at press conferences, it’s a daily necessity.
It’s the artery that keeps work, education, healthcare, and family life alive.
Each crossing tells its own story: a mother hurrying to Mater Dei, a student hoping not to miss her lecture, a worker praying the sea stays calm enough to make it home.
We’re not asking for privilege. We’re asking for parity, the same standards that apply to Sliema or Valletta should apply to Mġarr. The same seriousness. The same urgency. The same decency.
The Maltese archipelago was meant to be united by water, not divided by indifference. A bridge doesn’t have to be made of steel or concrete.
Sometimes it’s just the will to treat citizens as equals.
Until then, we’ll keep crossing the sea, not just between islands, but between the promises of our leaders and the reality we live in.
Luke Said is a PN election candidate for Gozo