Sandro Chetcuti has been appointed president of the Malta Developers Association, succeeding Michael Falzon who stepped down after three and a half years at the helm.

Addressing the MDA’s AGM yesterday, Mr Falzon commended Mr Chetcuti, who was the sole candidate, as a persuasive lobbyist.

The outgoing president cited personal reasons behind his decision not to stand for president again, adding that at 68 years of age, he wished to take things easier.

Mr Chetcuti is also a member on the government’s Building Regulation Board. His name was in the headlines last year over his assault and slight injury of Vince Farrugia, former director general of the GRTU, for which he was given a suspended jail term.

In his outgoing speech, Mr Falzon referred to Central Bank statistics showing that the construction industry had practically stabilised, although not at the level it had attained in previous years.

“The contribution of the construction sector to the GDP and bank lending to the construction and real estate sectors have not declined in a significant manner,” Mr Falzon said.

“A positive indicator is that bank lending to home buyers has increased. We can state with confidence that the sector today is not continuing to regress and we hope it will begin to recover.”

Bank lending to home buyers has increased

Mr Chetcuti, who is one of the association’s founders, said the past few years had taught the association to listen more.

The association had been collaborating with a number of organisations and aimed to engage in a dialogue with environmental NGOs, he said.

“A number of environmentalists are truly genuine. They have grown to fear us – and looking at past mistakes, one understands why.”

He said balance was the key to it all. As president, he would be striving to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy which stifled entrepreneurs and hindered investment.

He appealed to developers to abide by the law to help mitigate the negative perception of them.