ADPD wants every building to have its own 'passport'

ADPD-The Green Party wants every building in Malta and Gozo to have its own “passport” containing key documents about its planning, construction and condition.

The proposal, announced during a press conference in Paceville on Saturday, forms part of the party’s electoral manifesto and is intended to improve building safety through regular monitoring.

Chairperson Sandra Gauci said the passport should be administered by the Building and Construction Authority and include documents relating to planning approval, reports submitted during the permitting process and construction records.

Information that is already legally required, such as a building’s Energy Performance Certificate, should also form part of the passport. The certificate is reviewed every 10 years.

“This information is already in existence. What is needed is that this information is available in one place, the Building and Construction Authority,” Gauci said.

The system could start with new buildings and gradually be extended to older properties, she suggested.

Gauci said public authorities too often only acted after accidents happened and that more frequent assessments were needed to prevent serious incidents.

The ADPD suggestion comes after a construction site scare in Naxxar forced authorities to temporarily evacuate 13 families. Residents in the area say they have been reporting the site for suspected building irregularities for years.

On Friday, the BCA confirmed that it had inspected the site 110 times and issued seven fines to the project developer. It did not provide any information about the nature of those infractions or size of those fines. 

Neither major party has made any significant proposals to reform the construction sector.

Labour's manifesto, released on Friday, only commits to completing work on national building codes and developing a national register of tower cranes. 

PN leader Alex Borg did not provide any specific proposals to bolster the sector when pressed for specifics on Saturday. 

ADPD pushes for geological service

ADPD deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo also used the Saturday press conference to call for the creation of a national geological service, noting that Malta is the only country in Europe without a centralised geological authority.

He said the lack of such a service created shortcomings in construction, urban planning and environmental protection.

Cacopardo linked the proposal to a series of serious construction incidents, including the total collapse of a building in Paceville around a year ago and the Naxxar incident earlier this week.

No one was injured in either case, he said, but he noted that other construction accidents had led to people being hurt or killed.

Cacopardo said Malta needed better, updated information about the geology of the islands, arguing that existing knowledge was still largely based on information left behind by the British military.

ADPD is proposing that a national geological service collect and update geological data and carry out geological assessments according to international standards.

The party is also calling for trained geologists to be formally recognised through warrants and respected by regulatory authorities.

“How many more deaths do we need to face for the construction sector to up its game?” ADPD asked.