The government has been boasting about the country’s financial surplus for the past months, but it seems that there is not enough money to pay overtime to staff employed by the Building Regulations Office.

A few days ago, The Malta Independent reported that the BRO has no staff available on weekends, public holidays and after normal office hours to respond to complaints about construction illegalities.

The shortfall stems from lack of funding, with the BRO unable to pay overtime rates for shifts outside the normal office hours.

The result of this is that there is a free-for-all in the construction industry in the hours not covered by the BRO staff. They know that they can do what they like because nobody will turn up to stop them, simply because there is no one to answer any calls that are made to report illegalities.

Now, let’s say it clearly, it’s not that the law is followed to the letter during weekdays, when inspectors would be available to check on any complaints that come in. It is often the case that constructors do not abide by the rules, be it for safety measures that need to be taken (even for the sake of the workers themselves), be it for use of water sprinklers to control dust, be it for noise generated in the early hours of the morning, just to mention a few of the complaints that are made.

In a nutshell, abuses take place even in normal working hours covered by the BRO. But the fact that constructors know that they run no risks during the weekend gives them much more leeway to do what they like.

The government has given more latitude to the construction industry right from the first day, and we all remember what the president of the Malta Developers Association, Sandro Chetcuti said about making hay while the sun is shining.

The BRO’s lack of funds to cover weekends fits in nicely within this framework, and it does not look likely that the government intends to change the situation anytime soon. Two weeks ago, when The Malta Independent broke the story, questions were sent on this situation to the parliamentary secretary responsible. But, as you can imagine, no replies have been received.

The government has made it a habit to ignore queries about subjects that could be hurtful to its image. It is not the first time that questions sent to different government ministries are disregarded in the hope that the problem will go away and that the media will forget. This is just another case.

Seeing all this, it is pertinent to ask whether this lack of funds to see to the BRO’s needs is a deliberate way by the which the government is giving yet another helping hand to the construction industry.