New construction rules should be revised to better protect the rights of neighbours who end up bearing the brunt of building site mishaps, the Nationalist Party said on Sunday.

In a statement, the PN listed a series of changes it wanted to see in regulations, which were revised last week to considerable uproar.

The PN wants the law to clearly specify what forms of financial, logistical and psychological support people who end up homeless due to construction site incidents are entitled to. Victims of such incidents have told Times of Malta that while they received temporary accomodation, their lives remain on hold and they have no idea of when things will get back to normal.

The PN also wants the government to consult openly with architects – something it did not do in the four-day consultation period before the revised regulations were passed – and accelerate work to introduce a registered of licenced constructors, which would clearly list their skills.

Regulatory bodies like the Building Regulations Office and Occupational Health and Safety Authority also needed significantly more resources if they were to properly do their work, the PN said.

“The government’s rushed decision-making has set nobody’s mind at ease,” the party said in a statement released by its MPs Marthese Portelli, Claudette Buttigieg and Toni Bezzina.