A former top government advisor on construction has hit out at the new contractors’ licensing law, warning it could well translate into “a licence to kill”.

Architect Martin De Bono, who served as one of the government’s top advisors between 2013 and last year, and who helped draft several building policies and regulations, fears the new law issued last month could allow incompetent contractors to gain a licence.

He said it has almost no safety measures and allows illiterate and ill-trained contractors to become licensed just by providing two architects’ references as proof of their competence.

But the Planning Ministry has hit back at the claims, saying the unprecedented contractors’ licensing will, for the first time, evaluate and monitor the previously unregulated profession and will give authorities the power to withdraw the licences of contractors who go rogue.

“Our aim is to ensure more responsible operators, better scrutiny and enforcement together with higher standards in the construction sector,” a ministry spokesperson said in reply to questions.

But De Bono – a former Labour councillor who served until recently as a government advisor on construction – fears it will be everything but that.

De Bono, who was part of a small team that wrote an earlier draft of the regulations, told Times of Malta the final version was stripped of the most important safety measures.

He said the new law fails to hold contractors criminally accountable for shoddy work, does not require them to hold qualifications accredited from national and EU institutions and does not even require them to know how to read and write.

“It has the potential to license unskilled, untrained or even illiterate contractors, giving them the green legal light for more arrogance to attempt dangerous work that has already killed many innocent people.”

Crucially, De Bono said, if contractors do not have academic qualifications, the law allows a board appointed by the minister to grant a licence to any contractor with three years experience who presents just two references of two previous projects, presumably with recommendations from architects.

The prerogative should be a level playing field based on recognised qualifications and experience by EU accredited institutions and not judged by personal political appointees that answer directly to the minister, which could lead to political favours and corruption.

Martin De Bono has expressed concerns about the way a licencing regime for contractors has been introduced.

The new law issued last month obliges all construction contractors to be licensed by January 2025 to be able to operate in demolition, excavation and construction. It also requires the minister to set up a Licensing Committee tasked with issuing licences.

The Planning Ministry said De Bono’s claim is “factually incorrect” and no such requirement is mentioned in the law. It also rejected De Bono’s claim that the committee could be forced to take unethical decisions due to political pressure or that the issue of licences is subject to the whims of ministry-appointed officials.

‘30 years of bad experience’

De Bono acknowledged that experience in any profession is valuable, but it does not automatically mean the person knows what they are doing. There are contractors who have been doing bad work for 30 years, he charged.

“Construction today has become so technologically advanced in materials and construction methods that we cannot afford to grant licences to contractors who do not know how to read architects’ plans or implement a structural method statement.

“Contractors should be licensed in accordance with their capabilities, and there should be classifications on the type of work they are allowed to do. As it is now, a contractor that makes minor alterations and builds washrooms will be licenced to build skyscrapers as well.”

But the ministry said the law will actually add safeguards and raise industry standards, and was only published following a wide-ranging consultation process leading to legislation which drew consensus from various social partners.

Any person or company who wants to work in construction will now be evaluated – an unprecedented concept for demolition and excavation contractors – the ministry said. And they can only be licenced if they satisfy several criteria and show proof of academic qualifications, a mason’s licence or other experience.

“Moreover, for the first time, the Building and Construction Authority will be in a position to suspend or withdraw a licence over and above existing penalties and enforcement procedures.”

De Bono was the founder chairperson of the Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC) and is currently the chairperson of the Building and Construction Sector Skills unit at the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority.

For the last 10 years, he served as technical advisor to the BICC chairman. Together with other stakeholders, he drafted policies to enhance safety and quality in the industry, which the BICC would then pass on to government to put it into force.

He was also one of the brains behind the creation of the BCA.

When construction deaths increased alarmingly, BICC drafted the first licensing regulations with around 25 other industry stakeholders, requiring top health and safety standards, high levels of qualifications and accountability.

Priorities changed under new minister

But De Bono claimed that priorities changed when Planning Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi took over after last year’s election.

The new law stopped or shelved the requirement for contractors to be qualified, trained, skilled or literate and instead requires the contractor to only ‘manifest competence’.

He said there is no criminal responsibility for contractors in the new law – only for architects and masons – and minimum skill requirements, skill cards and health and safety awareness cards that ensured all construction workers had undergone the necessary training, were competent and knew how to work safely, had been ignored.

De Bono said the law also ignores the proposed Maltese Building Code on demolition, excavation and construction that made building sites safer. The sustainability and safety codes were also shelved.

“The proposed initial legislation seemed to change from one that protected lives from dangerous construction works to another that I believe could be just protecting the monetary interests of the developers and their partners,” he said.

But the ministry said skill cards were not ignored. Rather, they will be issued following the licensing of contractors because that process is directly linked to workers in the industry.

“Building codes have been discussed and government has received advice from various consultants. It is the government’s intention to finalise this process after due public consultation,” the spokesperson said.

But the government said its top priority at this stage is the implementation of the licensing process.