The government still owes €46 million to landowners whose properties were expropriated between 1950 and 1994, the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee heard this evening. Funds for land expropriated later started to be allocated immediately.

Commissioner of Land Albert Mamo said the €46 million was only the book value, which was the price offered by the government when it expropriated the land.This amount could be challenged and it also did not include interest.

The Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Land, Jason Azzopardi, told the committee that the government was committed to paying this compensation. One of the first issues discussed when the Land Department became part of the Finance Ministry was the backlog of compensation payments.

The ministry was studying possible technical solutions and considering if a financial institution could be set up to receive certain government revenue from which people who were owed money would then be paid.

This would enable the arrears to be paid in a few years. However, there were other considerations, including those of an economic nature, which had to be taken into account.