Quarry owners should be given short-term fiscal incentives for accepting construction waste, the developers' lobby has told Environment Minister Jose Herrera. 

"Authorities have been taking quarry owners for a ride for over 20 years," Malta Developers Association president Sandro Chetcuti said during a meeting between the minister and quarry owners. 

Dr Herrera has said that the government will issue a legal notice to requisition the quarry volume for construction waste - for which quarry owners will be compensated - and the Environment Resources Authority will issue notices informing those who refuse to accept construction waste without a valid reason that their licence will be suspended.

But according to Mr Chetcuti, the measures would not solve problems in the long term. 

Malta faces an "unprecedented" construction waste crisis, the minister said, with public construction projects failing to start because there was nowhere to dispose of construction waste. 

In the course of the meeting between the minister and MDA, the two sides agreed to start immediate discussions on the long-term disposal of construction waste, with six people appointed to represent quarry owners in talks. 

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