AD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said today the party has been insisting for a very long time that residents' complaints on the damaging intrusion of the building industry in their daily lives has been generally ignored.

This applies mostly to intensive developments within the residential zone, he said at a press conference in Gwardamangia. Often it is the authorities themselves that turn a blind eye towards these complaints. People's quality of live is being affected badly and tragically.
The collapse of three buildings are linked with excavation works in building sites. These are the cause of great concern.

These are not just accidents, but accidents waiting to happen. No one should be surprised that they actually did happen. We are indeed very lucky that no lives were lost this time round. Let's remember that a woman had lost her life in the very recent past due to the collapse of her home.

It is not the first time that this type of accident happened. That they do not occur more frequently is the result of dedicated operators and professionals in the building industry who do their best to work properly. It is certainly not the result of the authorities, who, more often than not are as passive as can be. 

The building industry regulators generally act as simple letterboxes: receiving reports and correspondence and rarely acting on the contents, AD said.

The temporary suspension by government of all demolition and excavation works is the result of panic proving one basic fact: the building industry regulatory authorities do not have the resources to carry out their responsibilities, which they have abdicated. 

In respect of each of the three buildings which collapsed in the past weeks we are aware that residents had been complaining for quite some time: no authority took up their complaints to have them acted upon, directly or by being referred urgently to more competent fora.
Government is now preoccupied. It would have been much better if this preoccupation was manifested previously not only by ensuring adequate resourcing of   Building Regulation Office (BRO) to be able to carry out its duties and responsibilities, but also by ensuring that all authorities take an interest and investigate without delay complaints received. 

Nine months ago, a pubic consultation was launched specifically to ensure that the "accidents" of the past weeks are avoided as much as possible through a consolidation of the existing weak institutions. 

These are the accidents we know of. How many more accidents would have happened had they not been avoided through the timely intervention of dedicated professionals? 

The emergency regulations to be published by government in the coming days can temporarily patch up the current mess.  What is required is adequate resources focused on the continuous and adequate monitoring of the construction industry. This is the only way which ensures that those who have no respect for the residential community in our urban areas are brought to their senses, AD said.