The main problem the nation has today is the Planning Authority. This body started well when it was first created as Mepa. However, now it stinks of corruption and has become the facilitator for developers rather than the regulator.
The PA is totally controlled by Castille. This is known by everybody and anybody who tries to argue against this is ignorant, dishonest or both.
It has grown into a monster of over 500 employees. If a small man tries to enlarge a small window in his little house he will face a mountain of permit requirements. However, if a developer wants to build the Tower of Babel, the chiefs at the PA will be given instructions by Castille to make it happen, as in the db project on the site of the ex-ITS.
It has been reported that one-bedroomed flats overlooking Paceville were being marketed for over €1m even before the permit was issued. The developer would hardly have been so cocky had he not received assurances from above. With the PA being taken over by the developers via Castille, anything is possible.
Given Joseph Muscat’s ‘pro-business at any cost’ policy, nobody would be in the least surprised if we were told that during his recent US trip, Muscat discussed demolishing St John’s Co-Cathedral to replace it with another Trump Tower. After all, this would be progress and nobody can stop progress.
The government’s argument is that Malta is doing well out of this immoral situation. Clearly some developers’ bank accounts are doing well. Normally one would expect that a socialist administration looks after the small man. The modern-day socialists in power here claim that wealth will trickle down to the small man. It is not doing so.
Because of all the foreigners now living in Malta, the price of property has reached an immoral level. Young people can no longer afford to buy a place to live in and when they do they are burdened with a mortgage until they are 65. They cannot even afford to rent a place. I am afraid that this Prime Minister will gain the dubious accolade that under his stewardship children of the middle and working classes could no longer afford a small home.
The present building boom has created a huge black economy
Families of four have been reduced to living in garages for which they pay €600 per month as they cannot afford a penny more, even if both adults are working. Yes Prime Minister, a lot of money is being made but it is not trickling down. Under these so-called socialists, we are becoming a country of wide contrasts. As the middle class shrinks, the gap between rich and poor is widening.
The present building boom has also created a huge black economy. Thousands of Sicilians live here, a great many working “al nero”. Presently doing up a flat, I was approached by three different tradesmen from our neighbour island, all offering to do my work so long as they were moonlighting. They all stated that this is how the developers pay them. So where are the gains for Malta?
All materials are imported while most employees are foreign and export their earnings to their families. The benefits to Malta are the property tax, developers’ profits, estate agents’ fees, legal and notarial fees.
Considering the large volumes involved, what remains in Malta may be an appreciable amount. But this amount fades to insignificance when set against the public funds spent on medical services, state schools, public transport etc. for foreign workers who are stretching our services to the limit.
It would be very revealing if an economist were to assess the actual gains for the nation once one factors in these costs along with the public healthcare expenditure spent on treating sickness caused by air and noise pollution generated by the construction industry.
Black economy activities undermine trust in the tax system, encouraging others to evade tax rather than bear the brunt. It creates an unfair commercial environment, rewarding the abusive and rendering honest businesses and individuals uncompetitive, feeling they have little choice but to jump on the illegal bandwagon.
It encourages the exploitation of workers and precarious work, so vociferously condemned by our socialist politicians while they were in Opposition. Widespread undeclared work undermines tax revenue, causing imbalances in the welfare system.
When was the last time that police crackdowns on illegal work were reported in the papers? Is Castille shielding abusive developers?
Moonlighting has become the oxygen of the development industry, as essential as slavery was to the economy of the US southern states; turning a blind eye to it legitimises and supports this phenomenon, spurring its further growth. As tax revenues fall, those remaining in the formal economy may be faced with higher tax burdens, providing a greater incentive to move into the shadows.
Over-development is undermining the fabric of society, destroying the islands’ built heritage, identity and touristic appeal. Far from being the pillar of the economy it’s turning into the national sinkhole.
Paul Cardona is chairman of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece