The Malta Developers Association (MDA) expresses its condolences to the family of Miriam Pace, the victim of yesterday’s incident in Santa Venera.
This was another tragedy which could have been avoided if all those responsible had made sure that all existing regulations, professional ethics and enforcement were followed.
In the current circumstances, the MDA wants to clarify, once again, that it is a voluntary association representing investors in the industry and not the regulator. The MDA does not have any role in overseeing or enforcing the roles of Architects, Site Technical Officers and contractors on development sites during ongoing construction works.
This is the role of various publicly funded entities, on which the MDA has been consistently harping during the past years for the need of a thorough reform, unfortunately with little progress.
Following yesterday’s tragic events, the MDA calls upon all those responsible to make sure that, without any further delay, all those responsible for the tragic accident are held accountable and face the consequences.
At the same time, the MDA is once again insisting that real reforms and more tangible enforcement needs to be introduced, following dialogue, so that these such incidents are avoided.
It is ironic utterly disappointing that the MDA, as the rest of the population, still does not know who was responsible for last year’s similar tragic incidents in the industry, as never ending inquiries remain ongoing.
We need accountability in acceptable time frames.
While the MDA has no problem in recognizing that there are problems in the industry, it is unacceptable that Architects who are responsible for overseeing construction projects, are also investors in the same projects. This is not on and real action is required.
The MDA reiterates its position that there is no room for any illegalities and urges the authorities to ensure that the responsible entities do their work according to their own remit.