In my term as parliamentary secretary responsible for public property, one of the greatest issues that characterised my work over the past three years has been the settling of overdue unpaid-for expropriations of private land.

Central to this issue were particular areas, on which housing estates were developed in the 80s, where the problem was two-fold as I will further explain.

In the 1980s, government saw fit to expropriate privately-owned land, to distribute it to third parties, on which the latter could develop houses, as part of the greatly successful Home Ownership Scheme. In itself this scheme was laudable because it addressed a housing problem effectively. However, as noble as this scheme was, it fell short on the sustainability front, shifting the problem from one side to the other, producing a fine time bomb this government is committed to defuse.

These stretches of land, amongst others in Għar Barka in Rabat, Tal-Wej in Mosta, Burmarrad, Għajn Dwieli in Paola, Santa Luċija, and Gudja, all host housing estates built on never-paid for expropriated private land. The result of this is that the 500 families living in these houses, till recently were not the owners of their houses, and had only a promise of sale as title for their houses for the last 30 years.

The reason behind this is simple. The government back then could not give to the families, what it didn’t own in the first place. Since government never paid the original owners for the expropriated land, it could not pass on title or ownership of the land to the families. Hence this whole scheme created a great injustice on two fronts.

The original owners were deprived of their private property, seriously infringing on the most basic of human rights. While on the other hand, the families now living in the newly-built houses could never truly become owners of their homes, with all the inconveniences that brings with it. Further to this, the governments of the 80s even failed to issue a presidential declaration on these expropriations. Legally, this obliges the present day government, to pay for the property in today’s value, and not the value of the 80s, with all the financial consequences this brings with it.

This government could have very well decided to pass on the buck to a future administration. We could have turned a deaf ear to these cases. Instead we opted not to and do the right thing, and address this reality for the benefit of the original owners of the land, as well as the benefit of the families who for 30 years lived in these houses without a sound title.

The Land Department has in fact over the past months invested close to €5 million to pay for land in the aforementioned areas, hence setting the records straight. This land is now being made available to the families, through the Housing Authority, for them to become effective owners of the properties which they bought some 30 years ago.

The Home Ownership Scheme was used as a political instrument which claimed to provide housing solutions with much pomp and fanfare. It is this government which is truly providing the solutions as these families are becoming the true owners of their homes.

Over the past 10 years, the government paid some €100 million for previously expropriated land, marking its commitment to seeing this chapter through, not just for Home Ownership Scheme purposes, but also for land which was expropriated decades ago for various other public purposes. These funds are being invested in a time when everyone agrees that the Finance Ministry would have had every excuse in the world to cut on these expenses. But we believe the funds this government is spending on this initiative are a true investment in the quality of lives of our families.

Dr Azzopardi is Parliamentary Secretary for Small Businesses and Land