Government announced that e383.8 million will be spent on seven major projects, three of which should take off in the year 2010.

In addition to the above ventures there are others such as new road works and Smart City Malta, not to mention other private developments such as Mistra Village, Metropolis in Gzira, Pender Place, Midi and the Fort Cambridge project.

It is an open secret that local contractors do not have the necessary skilled tradesmen to take on these projects simultaneously. In fact I am pretty sure that there are no skilled tradesmen registering for work with the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), with the exception of a few unskilled labourers; watchmen and funnily enough, "assistant window cleaners" and "assistant painters".

It is also a known fact that a significant number of foreign tradesmen are employed with a number of local building and civil engineering contractors. Most of these workers are being employed without the necessary work permits. If their employment was to be terminated on the grounds that they are being employed illegally, the construction industry would go to a halt as these cannot be replaced with locals for the simple reason that there are no Maltese workers interested in taking up employment in the construction industry anymore.

If it is a fact that these projects will shortly take off, then the problem of skill shortages (which incidentally have existed for the past few years) has to be solved.

In my opinion, government should grant an amnesty to all those foreign workers to come forward and sort out their position and provide them the necessary work permits for specific periods of time to be extended if necessary.

In this way, they will also be contributing to the island’s economy by paying taxes and national insurance contributions. Furthermore, I cannot see the reason why additional work permits are not issued if this industry so demands.

The shortage of specialized skilled trades that are mostly lacking, are experienced project managers, foremen, formwork erectors and concreters; steel fixers and plasterers.

For some reason or another, the local Maltese experienced tradesmen who were originally engaged in the construction industry have either quit their jobs due to old age or disappeared from the scene altogether and were never replaced. Most unfortunately, the younger generation is simply not interested in working in the construction industry, as it seems to consider such work to be degrading, which is not the case. Most probably they were never encouraged and taught a trade.

I can assure the authorities concerned that this solution will be very welcomed by the local established bona fide contractors and at the same time, no Maltese jobs will be lost.

It is of no use for the authorities concerned and the private sector to issue and award tenders with unrealistic completion dates that cannot possibly be met and enforcing heavy penalties for late completion when the right specialized skilled labour force is unavailable.

On a final note, I need not remind the authorities concerned that the construction industry has always been one, if not the largest employer on the island, when one takes into account the professionals, suppliers and all the many ancillary trades directly connected with this industry. On the one hand, imposing new regulations is definitely a move in the right direction, so far as these are sustainable. However, on the other hand I feel that the bona fide contractors should be given all the necessary support from all quarters and without undue delay, otherwise this industry will collapse.

George Xuereb

St. Julians