The Malta Developers' Association has urged the government to place greater focus on medium and long-term investment in the infrastructure.

Reacting to recent reports of an increase in government revenue, it said in a statement that the government "now should make sure that this increase in revenue does not go to current expenditure but rather to capital and long term investments".

Sustainability, it observed, dictates that the infrastructure of the country should be of an adequate level. This included the roads, pavements, cleanliness, IT connectivity, clean transport, the maritime infrastructure, accessible open areas and air quality-related projects. 

"It is the responsibility of the government to couple increased revenue with an increase in its capital expenditure as it is necessary for sustainable economic growth. In so doing, the government must ensure that it returns to a system where infrastructure projects are completed in short periods as they are now tending to take too much time" the association said.

"As such, government needs to award bids not solely on price but increasingly on contractor delivery track record."