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3 NEWS 10.6.2021 Measure for reduced tax duty on properties under €400,000 extended beyond July deadline LAURA CALLEJA THE government will be ex- tending a COVID-19 meas- ure for reduced stamp duty on properties not exceeding €400,000, that was set to end in July. The announcement was made during a meeting be- tween Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela and the Maltese Developers Association on Wednesday at the AX Group business centre. The delegation included top ministers like finance min- ister Clyde Caruana, infra- structure minister Ian Borg, environment minister Aaron Farrugia, and parliamentary secretary Chris Agius. "I believe the environment and development sectors can live together in synergy and complement each other," Abe- la told the MDA. "In our eco- nomic vision, we have always seen this balance between en- vironmental transformation and that of development. What we have achieved in energy, we must achieve in construction." Abela noted that proposals launched in the Economic Re- generation Plan would move the government "towards ex- cellence". "The new construction au- thority will be very effec- tive in further improving the standard in this sector," Abela said. MDA President Sandro Chetcuti boasted of the con- struction industry's direct support of the economy to the tune of 11% in gross value added. "While we must work to address environmental challenges, we must under- stand that development is a direct support of the econ- omy with 11% direct val- ue-added that can contribute to the government helping more other sectors." Chetcuti said acquisitions on promise-of-sale agree- ments had increased by €1.4 billion over thelast year, de- spite the pandemic. Chetcuti said a KPMG study showed that the price of af- fordable homes had not risen for the first time in the last seven years, despite strong property sales. "Had we not been resilient and turned challenges into opportunities, we could have had 40,000 at risk of losing thir jobs." An important lobby: the Prime Minister (left, centre) is flanked by ministers for finance, the environment, infrastructure, and a junior minister to meet Sandro Chetcuti and the developers' lobby FROM PAGE 1 "Some of these of contractors had based their tenders on construction waste costs of between €5 and €8 per tonne," he said. "Today, however, quar- ry owners charge €12 per tonne, and that is putting a strain on contractors' budgets." Chetcuti said that many of these con- tractors were only getting a very low profit and could therefore end up even losing money if they kept on dumping construction waste at today's prices. e €12/tonne disposal fee was im- posed by the government last year, after government roads agency, Infra- structure Malta, had ordered all road works to stop because of a lack of dumping space and the high price set by the few quarry owners who were ac- cepting the waste. BusinessToday is informed that the discussions with the government re- volve around two main recommenda- tions: land reclamation and exporting construction waste. "e ideal solution would be to pro- vide these quarry owners with more land where they can start to recycle the construction waste," Chetcuti said. "Without recycling the waste, we will soon run out of quarry space anyway, and we will be back to square one." If the quarry owners are to start recy- cling the construction waste dumped in their sites, they need space for spe- cialised equipment and storage - space that they currently do not have. e MDA is therefore pushing for the quaary owners to be allotted adjacent land where they could start recycling waste. Another proposal being put forward i for the construction waste to be ex- ported. "We import some of the material we use in construction, so we could make arrangements with those we import this material from to start exporting our construction waste to them," Chet- cuti said. Chetcuti had warned some weeks ago that unless an imminent and enduring solution to the dumping of construc- tion waste was found, development would come to an "almost complete standstill." e MDA has always insisted it was looking for a long-lasting solution, which would have immediate results and not jeopardise the livelihood of one of the most productive sectors of the Maltese economy. It is insisting that any solutions put forward should be based on the funda- mental principle of a level-playing field for all members and stakeholders, stat- ing it will strongly defend its members if selective expropriation measures are taken. Last year, Environment Minister Aar- on Farrugia acknowledged the ongoing issues surrounding landfilling quarries, stating the issue had been put on the back burner by numerous government administrations. He had then vowed to provide solu- tions in his time heading the environ- ment ministry. "In this same way we solved the issue surrounding Maghtab, I look to put a stop to this matter," he said. Farrugia did not exclude disposing construction waste at sea. However, he had insisted that there was still ample quarry space for the dumping of build- ing waste, but that not all quarries were open to accepting debris disposal. "Without recycling the waste, we will soon run out of quarry space anyway" MDA president Sandro Chetucti

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