The Malta Developers Association (MDA) notes the sudden renewed interest in the media and comments made on behalf of a consortium, regarding a possible agreement with the government on the development of prime public land in Bahar ic-Caghaq, known as the White Rocks.
Without entering into the merits of the still unknown negotiations being conducted by the government on this 450,000 square metres of public land, the MDA wants to underline its consistent position that any potential agreement should be primarily based on the current market value of the land in question.
The MDA also insists that, as promised by the new government, led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, such negotiations should be held in full transparency and in conformity with public procurement rules, and all those public officials involved in such negotiations should be fully accountable to the owners of this land – the public.
The MDA insists that what happened in the case of other massive property development on public land under different administrations should not be repeated.
The MDA warns that it will not tolerate fiddling on market value, lack of transparency or any sort of state aid to turn public land into private speculative projects.
This is not in the interest of the economy and the public has a right to obtain value for money for public land.