Less than two months ago, the Times of Malta carried an editorial expressing shock and anger at the wanton abuse by building contractors and pointing to what appears to be the impotency of the government to deal with a situation that is getting worse by the day.
Since then, there have been three accidents at construction sites (many go unreported) that should make the government realise that something needs to be urgently done to bring the building contractors to order. Many believe the situation is already out of the government’s control and that the contractors and developers have become untouchables.
It appears that, for political reasons, the government is unwilling to ruffle the developers’ feathers, more so at a time when, through the prevailing building boom, they are helping in no small measure to keep the economy going at an above-average growth rate. When this is earning the party in government so many plaudits and votes, who would want to upset the applecart?
Never mind the kind of development that is taking place, mostly ugly with no traditional characteristics, what is causing great concern is the lack of enforcement of the rules and regulations. Right now, most building contractors are doing what they please. An indication of the fast-deteriorating situation are the incidents taking place.
On September 18, a woman resting in her bedroom was terrified when part of the roof crashed down under the weight of bricks transported onto an adjacent building. A week or so later, a woman working in her Gżira shop had the fright of her life when the roof caved in metres away from where she was standing. It appears that a tower crane in an adjacent construction site struck a nearby building and sent a load of bricks hurtling down onto the shop.
The latest case is yet of another woman who, she said, was shocked when she found out that the foundations of the house where she lives had shifted because of excavation work next door.
Hundreds of people living next or close to construction sites are living in fear, or are suffering great inconvenience, because there is no strict enforcement of the regulations.
Yet, it looks as if no one is sharing their concern. The “little man”, as Dom Mintoff once described those left uncared for and unprotected, appears to have no one to defend him against the indifference of many, if not most, of the building contractors and developers. They are indeed making hay while the sun shines.
When the government itself acts indifferently to their concern, many might have expected the main party in Opposition to step in and spearhead a drive to bring the developers to order. The fact that it has not done so would suggest that, like the party in government, it too does not want to ruffle the developers’ feathers as members of their fraternity support it, perhaps even financially.
Who, then, will tackle the people’s concern? Here is an opportunity for the Democratic Party to take up their cause. If no political party is interested in taking up the challenge, this must surely be an issue that calls for the formation of a lobby that will fight for the interests of people suffering at the hands of developers.