Architect Simon Saliba has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Building & Construction Authority, as the Justice Ministry announced wholesale changes to the construction regulator on Friday.
Saliba will replace previous chairperson Saviour Camilleri, while Ian Borg will remain the deputy chairperson of the board.
Saliba is not a new name: he previously headed the Planning Authority’s Planning Commission where he drew ire from NGOs who accused him of “acting as a lawyer for developers” after he cut an activist’s microphone during an online meeting which ended with the approval of 18 apartments to be built over a site with cart ruts.
“Mr Simon Saliba has consistently shown disrespect to residents and other objectors during sittings held at the Planning Authority and has often openly and aggressively sided with the developers instead of fulfilling his role as an impartial arbitrator,” the NGOs had said.
Saliba was removed from the post in November 2020 – five months after the incident in question – and placed elsewhere within the Planning Authority. He later filed a judicial protest against then Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia stating that his removal was illegal.
The rest of the BCA’s board will be made of up Marouska Debono, architect Herman Bonnici, engineer Ray Pellicano, architect Ivan Piccinino, Kurt Farrugia, engineer Chris Borg, architect Krista Xuereb, David Bonello, and engineer Robert Schembri.
Pellicano, Borg, Bonello, and Schembri are the only ones who were part of the previous BCA board and retain their place.
In a statement announcing the changes, which came after the ceiling of a house collapsed in Sliema and led to the death of an Albanian construction worker, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said that the new appointments will strengthen the board with new perpsectives and experience.
“With these new appointments we are seeing that we continue to strengthen this board with new skills, perspectives, and experience in such a manner that we can continue to carry out the reform process in the construction sector,” Attard, whose remit includes the construction sector, said.
“We are conscious that there is a lot to be done in this sector, but we are determined more than ever before to continue taking the most opportune decisions to not just implement our electoral commitments and the recommendations of the [Sofia] public inquiry, but to go a step further to raise the standards of the sector,” Attard concluded.