The private sector has a crucial role to play in financing our infrastructure needs, Country Managing Partner at EY Malta Ronald Attard told a conference on Wednesday.
"It is imperative that we employ diverse strategies to attract private investment, including innovative financing solutions and robust risk management practices," he added.
Attard was speaking at a conference by EY Malta, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Times of Malta called Build and Share: Sustaining Malta’s Growth.
The event discussed emerging trends, regulatory frameworks and financing models that are essential for the successful delivery of infrastructure projects.
In his opening remarks, the chamber's president Chris Vassallo Cesareo said strategic urban planning balanced land use and transportation to support sustainable economic growth while preserving natural, cultural, and historical heritage.
Mats Persson - partner at EY UK and former special advisor to the prime minister and chief of staff to the chancellor of the exchequer - meanwhile delivered the keynote speech.
“There are five fundamental transitions set to influence capital investments over the next decade: the increasing cost of capital, energy transition, a new form of supply globalization, technology and ageing population. This will influence the design and funding of infrastructure projects, including in Malta,” he told the conference.
The chamber's CEO Marthese Portelli and Infrastructure Malta's CEO Steve Ellul also participated in the event.
Among others, Ellul flagged the need for adopting successful European infrastructure models when it comes to the sharing of subterranean infrastructure by multiple operators.
He also referred to leveraging AI for traffic management and on-site enforcement.
Portelli meanwhile noted that improving Malta’s infrastructure will help address the island's low productivity and increase competitiveness.
She acknowledged the country’s exponential GDP growth but explained that as a country “we failed to fully consider and plan for the downsides that such exponential growth brings with it – we did not take the necessary steps to manage this growth effectively and sustainably”.