The emergency situation over the shortage of dumping sites for construction waste has now reached critical proportions as some 400 excavation and demolition contractors are facing a total standstill, the Malta Developers Association (MDA) said in a statement, adding that these contractors cannot find any legal dumping solution at any price.

The issue of contractors struggling to find quarries willing to take in construction waste has been an issue for a while, and is now reaching crisis stage.

The Malta Developers Association said that now it is no longer a situation of escalating dumping costs pushing up property prices. "Members are not finding any dumping sites that will accept their construction waste at any cost."

The Association appealed to the government to take immediate and definitive action as the industry cannot be left in limbo indefinitely.

MDA insists that this problem is not being caused only through private construction projects, but also through substantial public projects including national infrastructure and Housing Authority projects that are ongoing at the moment.

Recently, it was announced that the government started surveying nine quarries that are located on state-owned land in what has been described by sources as the "first step" to solve the ongoing construction waste crisis.