AD and PD say building industry should be curtailed not subsidised

Small parties Alternattiva Demokratika and Partit Demokratiku said that with Prime Minister Robert Abela, the building industry is likely to remain uncontrolled and unbridled at a time when it should be curtailed.

"The building industry should be curtailed in order to address overdevelopment and an environmental deficit, which is spiralling out of control. The government should desist from spinning fairytales on the environment and land use planning moving hand in hand in order to attain a misconstrued and imaginary balance," AD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said.

The two parties are planning to join forces before the next general election. The held a joint press conference on Saturday outside the Planning Authority offices, saying that Abela spells continuity and would not keep the developers in check.

"Abela said that good governance is a priority for his government but, in the same breath, he said that he does not want to control the construction industry. Does this mean that developers will continue benefitting from the current free-for-all? A cement plant in San Lawrenz Gozo is still operating despite an enforcement order by the PA. The owners of this plant are also allegedly involved in a case of false declarations about a huge development in Qala. These are only two cases of the many we hear about," PD spokesperson, Carmel Axiak, said.

It added that the Maltese political system had always favoured the construction industry and property speculators. 

AD called for the government to immediately take steps to ensure that environmental deficit caused in part by the building industry is addressed.

Recently, the building industry insisted on subsidies to address the issue of construction waste. The management of two quarries at Għar Lapsi and Mqabba had unilaterally decided to increase their dumping charges from €8 to €15 per tonne of construction waste. In reaction, the Malta Developers Association lobbied for subsidies and the government had agreed to provide incentives to the quarry owners to keep the price stable at €8 per tonne for at least another year and a half.

“Unfortunately the government has a perverted understanding of the polluter-pays environmental principle. Instead of ensuring that the construction industry cleans up its act and adequately addresses the question of how to deal with waste that it generates, the government is irresponsibly using taxpayers’ money to subsidise their mess," Cacopardo said, adding that the building industry could do with a substantial dose of good governance.