Remedial works to strengthen two housing authority apartment blocks built with poor quality concrete about 20 years ago in Mtarfa will cost the government €2.5 million.

Family and Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia also announced that Judge Philip Sciberras, who headed the probe into the weak concrete discovered last year at Mater Dei Hospital, was asked to look into this new case in a separate inquiry.

The minister was speaking during a news conference in which he referred to the conclusions of a structural review carried out by international consultancy firm Arup.

The survey was ordered after residents in blocks A and B of Binja Buqana in Mtarfa complained that cracks had developed in various parts of the building, to the point that they were fearing for their safety. He said about 80 families lived in these apartments, which had been sold at subsidised prices as part of a housing authority scheme.

They had been sold at subsidised prices as part of a housing authority scheme

Dr Farrugia said preliminary investigations indicated these apartments had been built between 1994 and 1996, in the same period when weak concrete was being used for the emergency department at Mater Dei.

Asked if he was implying that the two cases might be linked, the minister declined to comment saying this would be determined by the probe.

Allaying fears that the building was unsafe, he said the concrete was deteriorating at an accelerated pace to the point that parts of the foundations had to be replaced. In other parts of the building, the steel mesh was exposed and large chunks of concrete had fallen off.

Dr Farrugia raised questions on the manner in which the housing authority had first dealt with the issue when it cropped up about 15 years ago. Then, he recalled, the authority had rejected claims by the residents on the basis of a number of onsite inspections that were subsequently carried out.

The minister said the inquiry would look into these assurances and explore whether there could be grounds for civil and criminal action against those responsible. Asked about the decision to appoint Judge Sciberras to head the inquiry, Dr Farrugia said the retired judge was the ideal person for such a job due to his recent experience in the Mater Dei probe.