Four localities earmarked for new social housing project

Attard, Qormi, Mqabba and Msida are the first localities to have been identified for the construction of social housing units as part of the new project announced by the Prime Minister on 1 May.

The information was given in Parliament on Wednesday by Social Solidarity Minister Michael Falzon in replies to questions by Labour Whip Byron Camilleri and PN MP Hermann Schiavone.

During the Labour Party's mass meeting to mark Workers' Day, Joseph Muscat said the government will embark on a new project to build 500 social housing units and this will be financed to the tune of €50 million from passport money that will come from the National Development and Social Fund.

Falzon said the exercise to identify more sites for social housing is ongoing. "This new project should not be viewed as a standalone but as part of a holistic plan on social housing that includes the ongoing construction of more than 500 units for which money was earmarked in the previous legislature," he said.

Falzon said the government was looking at a model of renting out social housing units rather than selling them.

When asked by PN Whip Robert Cutajar about government's credibility on the completion of social housing projects, considering that the one announced three years ago had not yet been completed, Falzon invited the MP to "go and see where the excavation is happening".

"Although this government is known to perform miracles, we cannot build 500 buildings in one day," Falzon said, adding that the commitment to complete the project is there.