A bill to set up a new construction regulator is a positive initiative but allows private lobbies too much leeway to take over key regulating functions, Moviment Graffitti has said.
The bill, intended to render the Building and Construction Authority operational, is currently being discussed in parliament. It comes one year after a fatal construction site collapse killed Miriam Pace inside her own home, prompting widespread outrage about lax construction sector regulation.
In a statement on Saturday, activist group Moviment Graffitti said that the bill was vaguely worded in many places, making it “difficult to understand, let alone predict, what it aims to achieve”.
“The authority risks ending up as a tool in the hands of a very powerful lobby which is trying to muscle its way into the BCA’s board,” Graffitti said, alluding to the Malta Developers Association.
The MDA has lobbied to have a representative sit on the BCA board, much to environmentalists’ dismay. That proposal has been backed by the Nationalist Party, which has argued that it is “positive” to have stakeholders form part of regulatory boards.
Moviment Graffitti, which opposes that proposal, said the PN’s calls were “pure hypocrisy” that reflected the party’s half-hearted approach to construction sector reform.
“This is further proof that both political parties are playing to the whims of Sandro Chetcuti’s lobby,” it said.
"The fact that one of the MDA’s own board members is being investigated for the murder of Miriam Pace speaks volumes about this lobby’s track record. The MDA does not deserve to be rewarded for Miriam Pace’s death," it said.
In its feedback, the NGO group expressed clear concern about a clause that will allow the BCA to outsource some functions to non-governmental entities, saying this was “clearly” designed to allow a register of contractors to be operated by private interest groups such as the Malta Developers’ Association.
Such functions should be the sole remit of the regulator, Graffitti said.
The first iteration of a register of contractors, announced in 2019 following an initial spate of construction site collapses, was compiled and held by the MDA. The Ombudsman had subsequently concluded that this was against the law.
Moviment Graffitti also highlighted a number of other concerns it has about the bill under discussion.
It said that the BCA board should be nominated by parliament, rather than being handpicked by the responsible minister, and warned that as things stand, the board would be allowed to operate arbitrarily as the draft law did not regulate its function or require its meetings to be public.
The law also lacked clear and stringent criteria for exemptions to be granted, it noted.
Graffitti presented its feedback to Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia, Parliamentary Secretary for Construction Chris Agius, chairperson of parliament’s consideration of bills committee Ian Castaldi Paris and Opposition representatives Hermann Schiavone and Toni Bezzina.