Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1081437
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2019 NEWS CALL FOR CONCESSION TENDER Concession to Operate a Catering Facility at Cottonera Sports Complex Reference : SM/CONS/09/2018 All quotes are to be submitted via EPPS Deadline for submissions : 01/03/2019 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Since the government opened the floodgates and decided to base the country's economy on the construc- tion sector, we are now facing a crisis as a nation, where the people and the environment in particular are suffering tre- mendously," Azzopardi said. PN MEP candidate Michael Briguglio, present at the con- ference, suggested a number of proposals to help deal with the corollary of the building boom. Briguglio said that since 85% of all waste was generated by the construction industry and since sustainability was not on the government's agenda, the PN was proposing some pos- sible solutions including: • Restoring decrepit build- ings using construction waste • Reusing construction waste material in new developments • Building a national facility where the best offcuts of con- struction waste can be chosen to be resold • Producing reconstituted stone (gelled fragments of con- crete using acrylic resin) for exportation • Allocating more EU funds to the processing of construc- tion waste Briguglio insisted that the current problem should be viewed as an opportunity, while Azzopardi added that there was a market for Malta's "beautiful stone" abroad. Azzopardi said he would be writing to Alex Muscat, the Chairman of the Environment and Development Planning Committee, for the construc- tion waste issue to be put on the agenda and immediately addressed. Environment Minister José Herrera's response Replying to questions in Par- liament, the environment min- ister said that he agreed with most of the proposals brought forward by the PN but had some reservations. "With regards to your pro- posal for reconstituting stone, I've talked with many investors about the issue. Not all mate- rial is viable here because the resulting stone can be, in some cases, more expensive than normal stone," Herrera said. However, the minister said he would be very willing to col- laborate with the opposition on the issue and, in fact, had al- ready been entertaining some of the ideas the PN presented today. On the topic of land recla- mation, Herrera lamented the fact that the opposition was so vociferously belligerent to the idea when the government had not made any plan public yet. "Before you come out so vo- ciferously against government entertaining the idea of land reclamation, give me some time. I will invite the opposi- tion and Partit Demokratiku to a presentation on the gov- ernment's vision on this issue. Then you can criticise as much as you like," he said. Herrera added that the con- struction waste problem had not developed overnight but had been there for years and that the situation was exacer- bated when no new licenses for quarries were being issued. "Quarries that are kept closed by operators means that prices keep going up," he said. Government's decision to base economy on construction leading to suffering Azzopardi argued that the space to dispose of construction waste was running out NOTICE BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION European Parliament Election & Local Councils' Elections – May 2019 Persons to serve as Assistant Electoral Commissioners, Polling Place Officers and Counting Staff The Electoral Commission notifies that it will receive applications from eligible persons to serve as Assistant Electoral Commissioners, Polling Place Officers and Counting Staff in the forthcoming European Parliament and Local Council Elections due on Saturday, 25th May, 2019. Applicants would be expected to attend briefing sessions held by the Electoral Commission in due course. Applications will be received by the Electoral Commission at the Naxxar Counting Complex (Ex-Trade Fair Grounds) From: Monday 18th to Friday 22nd February Between: 3.00 pm and 8.00 pm And on: Saturday 23rd February Between: 8.00 am and 1.00 pm Applicants must present their Identity Card. Persons residing in Gozo may apply at the Identity Cards Office, 28A, St. Francis Square, Victoria, Gozo. Application forms, the only ones admissible, may be obtained from the Electoral Office at the Naxxar Counting Complex during the mentioned days and hours or may be downloaded from the Electoral Commission's website: https://electoral.gov.mt/Elections/ApplicationForm www.electoral.gov.mt MATTHEW VELLA THE New York Times was said to have made an error in compiling the exposure of Maltese home loans to the ef- fect of Britain's exit from the EU, the Central Bank of Malta said in a statement. The New York Times article of 7 February 2019 – Where Europe Would Be Hurt Most by a No-Deal Brexit – featured a chart with the title 'Share of lending by banks located in Britain' and a legend that read "Households and businesses in Malta rely on British-based banks for almost 40% of for- eign lending". While the source the jour- nalists used was data from the Bank of International Settle- ments' Consolidated Banking Statistics (CBS), the positions reported in the BIS CBS how- ever do not refer to banks lo- cated in Britain – but to banks headquartered in Britain. "The BIS CBS positions re- ferred to by the journalists include not only the cross- border claims of UK banks on residents in Malta, but also claims of subsidiaries and branches in Malta of banks headquartered in the UK. The 40% share reported in the New York Times ar- ticle is totally misleading as it incorporates lending to households and business- es by locally-incorporated subsidiaries of UK banking groups, which lending can- not be considered as foreign lending," the Central Bank of Malta said. Indeed, the Central Bank's estimates show that the share of borrowing needs from households and non-financial corporates sourced from the UK is only around 5% of total foreign borrowing as opposed to the 40% reported in the ar- ticle. "Furthermore, according to Malta's Financial Accounts Statistics (from Whom-to- Whom Accounts), the share of total non-consolidated borrowing of households and businesses sourced from the rest of the world stood at just 12.9% in 2016. In fact, the Central Bank does not expect disruptions in the operations of domestic subsidiaries of UK parent banking institu- tions from Brexit." The Central Bank said that the New York Times article significantly overstated the impact of Brexit on the finan- cial sector in Malta, even in the event of a No-Deal Brexit. New York Times made wrong estimate of Malta's 'Brexit exposure' - Central Bank