Much has been said of the cosmopolitan society that the government is envisioning for the country, and much has been said of the need to import foreign workers of we are to keep our pensions safe and build that society.

Much has also been said of the so-called Dubai-ification of Malta. But this fascination with places like Dubai and Singapore as expressed by the Prime Minister time and time again, it would appear, does not stop at the mere cosmetics of the country, which are under a clear and present threat of being irreversibly altered by the mega-projects that are underway and in the pipeline.

It extends to how these projects will be built and, in particular, who will be building them.  The country intends, according to the Prime Minister, to import some 500 Turkish workers for a number of projects that a major Turkish construction company won the bids for.  Other reports put the figure in the thousands.

But irrespective of the amounts in question, there are some basic safeguards that need to be put in place, and of which we are hearing very little.

Many Maltese have been to Dubai, to the shopping festival and to the resorts.   Many have visited the multiple wonders that the sparkling gem in the Gulf’s crown holds. But it is questionable how many of those had ventured just outside the city centre to the dark underbelly of the city of glitz and glamour.

How many of them have seen the squalor and the filth in which the several thousands of workers imported from the Indian subcontinent live, those who built the skyscrapers?  The poverty in which these workers subsist cuts an incredibly stark contrast from the Burj Al Arab and the other glitzy resorts that we hear so much about.

There, it is not so much a question of the haves and the have-nots as it is a question of the haves and the have-nothings.  It is a question of practical slave labour by Dubai standards, but possibly a bare minimum living wage in the countries from which those forlorn workers hail.

Now back to Malta and the Turks who are being imported for these huge construction projects.  By all reports, these workers are to be afforded the Maltese minimum wage, €747 a month, as compared to the Turkish minimum wage, which, at €380, is about half that of Malta.

This would seem to be a pretty good deal for these construction workers but those workers’ conditions need to be made public because, as anyone would be able to work out for themselves, there are a great many ways to circumvent the Maltese minimum wage assurances that have been given.

We will give the benefit of the doubt for the time being until more information is made available but the fact that such a large number of foreign workers are being imported into the country - workers who are undoubtedly unaccustomed to European Union workplace standards, living conditions or wages - needs to be looked at very closely indeed.

They may be third country nationals, but they must not treated as second-class human beings in any way, shape or form.  We need to have some more openness about these workers and their conditions and, frankly, it is a wonder how the workers’ unions have not vociferously spoken up about this situation.

Is Turkey to us what the Indian sub-continent is to Dubai? We must not go down that route, a route that the bean counters at the construction conglomerates would be more than happy to take us down.

The skyscrapers and mega-projects that the majority of the population clearly is not in favour of are already being foisted upon us, but inferior working conditions for anyone – Maltese, European or anyone from third countries such as Turkey – must not be tolerated.