Government seeking funding for factory building programme

The government will be seeking private and bank finance to push forward the refurbishment of factories and the building of new ones at a quicker pace, Austin Gatt, the Minister for Government Investments, said yesterday.

Towards this end, the government, he said, has directed Malta Industrial Parks to change its policy regarding the financing of industrial parks and factories.

Dr Gatt, who was speaking at the inauguration of an extension to the factory Astracast Limited (Stainless Steel Ltd), said Stainless Steel was one of the few companies that have accompanied Malta's industrial development in the post-Independence stage.

Set up in 1970, the company today employs 139 persons, has a turnover of more than Lm5 million (registering year-on-year increases since 2000), has invested Lm2.5 million since 2003 and pays more than Lm1 million in wages and salaries.

"With a 34-year history, it is obvious that the company would not have been the success story it is today were it not able to adapt its strategies and production lines, find the financing required and re-tool as and when required to ensure quality at the highest standards.

"This constant change must not have been easy to adapt to but the market realities of today's world impose change, quality and innovation as the unquestioned pillars of success," he said.

Rather than granting tax holidays, as was enjoyed by Stainless Steel in the 1970s, the challenge was to create the right type of economic environment that ensured that manufacturing in Malta had the right skills available, assist training, encourage research and development, increase output and cap costs - wherever they originate from - to competitive levels.