A public consultation on the incentives required to put dilapidated property on the market may be on the cards in the next Budget, the Prime Minister said this morning.

Joseph Muscat was addressing the media ahead of a meeting with the Malta Developers Association at his office. The talks are part of public consultation in the run up to the 2016 Budget which will be announced on October 12.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that dilapidated buildings have become an eyesore and expressed his wish to address this issue, which would eventually ease some of the pressure to develop virgin land.

However he cautioned that any incentives must be well thought out, pointing out that these must not encourage property owners to led their property fall into debilitation. 

On the other hand Dr Muscat acknowledged that bureaucracy was still rife, and said that government had a long way to address this issue.

Commenting on the overall measures of the next Budget, he said that there would be no shocks. Dr Muscat said his government wanted to break away from the electoral cycle and thus avoid to introduce popular measures close to election time.

MDA President Sandro Chetcuti said his organisation wanted to get rid of the negative perceptions associated with developers. He said that they were all out in favour of sustainable development and against building outside development zones. The developers were happy with existing development boundaries but would wish to address certain anomalies

Mr Chetcuti said the MDA had already submitted its proposals and expressed hope that these would be taken onboard.

“This year our aiming is to maintain the momentum and the feel-good factor in the construction industry,” he said. 

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