The government has recently given back strips of land which were expropriated many years ago to become roads but which have not been utilised.

It was a wonderful gesture by the government to heirs who did not know their families had these lands. Thanks to Minister Jason Azzopardi, this was a government that was doing the right thing, even if perhaps many years too late.

Equally, the present government is conducting an exercise to pay owners of land expropriated by the government many, many years back. Many times, housing estates were built on such land and when the present residents of the houses or apartments, built on this land, wanted to sell them, they could not, because the government had not paid off the real owners. By means of this exercise, therefore, not only was justice served, but residents could move on as well.

When the airport was privatised, some years back, part of the intricate legal paperwork the transfer included was to identify who were the owners of the lands on which the long airport runway was constructed. It turned out that some owners could not be found.

So this brings us to make a suggestion. But before making it, we urge the government to continue with this exercise and to devote the adequate human resources to sorting through this backlog.

Equally, there is an ongoing exercise as regards the land taken from the church. Many who have houses owned by the Joint Office want to purchase their house and have plans for the future. But many, so far, could not do anything because of the messy handover of Church lands to the government. Again, human resources must be added to bring this sorry mess to an end.

So now to the suggestion. All the examples mentioned above are instances of justice, even after a lapse of many years. However, that does not exhaust the various possibilities of releasing land the government does not want and turning it to profit.

The government owns far more land than it needs but it must be careful to release land gradually, so as not to flood the property market. It is said that many parts of the land included in the 2007 rationalisation exercise was government land within the development zone that can be turned to profitable use.

But beyond all this, one sees, in all towns and villages, in all streets, massive amounts of houses that have been allowed to become derelict. They are shabby and neglected and give a bad taste to those who admire the architecture that created them and decry the neglect that has been allowed.

There must be some cases where the owners are known but who for one reason or another are unable to come to an agreement to sell. But there must be many cases where the owners are unknown and cannot be found. Many could have died without offspring. Many simply disappeared.

What we suggest is that the government begins a long process to find out if these derelict buildings have an identifiable owner. If, after the necessary searches, no owner turns up, the government should be in a position to take ownership of that building.

However, we do not suggest that the government then turns such buildings to social housing. First of all, such buildings are usually in a bad state. Secondly, the government already owns heaps of sub-standard buildings into which even the people on social security refuse to go. But if the government were to gradually sell such properties, it could kick-start a property market in doldrums and provide eventual buyers with a profitable venture.