The Malta Developers Association has reached an agreement with Enemalta for the corporation to provide a temporary electricity service at construction sites.

This was an initiative the MDA has been working on for over a year.

The MDA said this morning it was working closely with the authorities and its members, so that property development in the country would become more professional and efficient.

It said that in the past 20 years there was a time when anyone who had any money to invest could become a developer and few were bothered about breaking the law so long as they were able to obtain electricity from somewhere.

But those in this situation had no option but to resort to breaking the regulations to obtain an electricity supply, often having to 'borrow' electricity from domestic users in the vicinity, a practice that was illegal.

Through the agreement, the temporary supply would be fixed for six months, as long as the works were covered by the relative permits, and would no longer be valid if the developer did not apply for a further six-month extension. This was to ensure that the supply would be used only for the purpose that it is granted.