The Malta Developers Association has reiterated that it disagrees completely with the estimated cost of way in which the former ITS site deal was valued and passed on to the Seabank Group for €15 million.

It said in a statement on Friday it noted comments made earlier in the week by the National Audit Office to the effect that the government was calculating the value of public land to be used for high-quality residential purposes by basing itself on that benchmark.

The Corinthia Group is to given a concession to build 100,000 square metres of commercial and residential real estate and offices, including towers, on the same controversial model and conditions granted to the db Group for the ITS site.

MDA said it considered that value as being far below the market prices prevalent when Deloitte carried out their valuation exercise. Since then, market prices had gone up further.

When government sold public land to be used for residential purposes at below current market prices, it distorted the property market and abandoned the concept of a level playing field for all the players in this market, the association said.