A group of Turkish builders in Malta to work on the Fortina project for Ankara-based TACA Construction have run out of money after not being paid for the past five months. 

Speaking to Times of Malta on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, one of the construction workers said that despite working for the past eight months, they have only been paid for three. 

"We are in a very difficult situation here. We have no money left. The boss is not talking to us. He is not interested in any way. We don’t even have enough money to buy a packet of cigarettes," the man said. 

The "boss" was someone from TACA Construction, the worker said. 

“My family cannot eat because my salary is not paid,” he added.

Workers are currently being given food to eat, but say they fear this will not last too long. 

"We don’t trust TACA," he said. 

TACA flew workers over to Malta after winning a bid to work on the Fortina redevelopment in Sliema. The company has also bid for work on the db Group's City Centre project planned for St George's Bay. 

It originally planned to house workers in a disused quarry in Mqabba, but those plans were scrapped after the Planning Authority turned down a permit to convert the area into a compound. 

The company has in the past insisted that its workers are paid decent salaries.

Questions sent to TACA Construction on Tuesday morning have remained unanswered. 

The Department of Industrial and Employment Relations is looking into the case, a spokesperson for minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela said. 

Workers mill around the Sliema construction site.

Fortina distances itself from workers' claims 

Fortina Investments distanced itself from the construction workers' claims about them not being paid.

The workers, the company said, were employed by the Turkish company and Fortina Contracting, a subsidiary of Fortina Investments, had nothing to do with their payments. 

The company said it had “honoured and is in line with all its financial obligations to TACA Construction for the approved civil works undertaken on the development to date”. 

It went on to note it was “very disappointed that the Turkish company has allegedly not paid its workers the wages that are due to them”.