Green Light To Clang Into The Night: BCA Permits St Julian’s Construction Work Until 11pm
St Julian’s residents have once again complained about being inconvenienced by a construction project which caused uproar in recent weeks, due to developers being allowed to work overnight into the early hours of morning.
Triq l-Mrabat and Triq Birkirkara, St Julian’s, residents were relieved when the Building and Construction Authority intervened, assuring Lovin Malta that “no construction activity can be carried out before 7am and after 8pm”.
In response, almost two weeks ago, BCA took action. However, it has now issued a new permit to those developers – which let them conduct their work between 6.30pm and 11pm.
“This evening, the illegal works continue and, are happening right now, at 11.05pm on a Tuesday night. They’ve been ongoing for the last four hours,” a resident in an apartment looking down at the construction site told Lovin Malta.
This resident alleged that their work continued until around 11.10pm.
The resident was understandably upset when, within two weeks of the BCA taking action, construction at this site was continuing after it was supposed to stop, within times when carrying out construction work is illegal.
“They’re collecting solid blocks of concrete and rubble from the demolished site across the street, lifting it with a metal skip and dumping it into a metal truck with very loud banging metal, chains, and engines running at the same time.”
“I left a voicemail for BCA to report this but no one responded to their out-of-hours emergency number,” continued the resident.
“This is a complete disregard for residents.”
Lovin Malta reached out to BCA to confirm the details of this new permit and the circumstances through which it was allowed.
“BCA confirms that such an exemption is permitted at law and was issued to the architect representing the developer between 6:30pm and 11:00pm,” the authority told Lovin Malta.
“The exemption was granted due to extraordinary and exceptional circumstances in relation to traffic management close to the construction site.”
The original permit Transport Malta permit allowed construction to continue until 5am. BCA took action against developers because construction is not supposed to take place after 8pm.
It weighed up the site’s specific circumstances and reissued a permit allowing construction to continue until 11pm.
It explained this by stating the importance of managing traffic close to the site – which points towards prioritisation of traffic over the interests of people.
Lovin Malta also asked if BCA is concerned that this exemption could set a precedent, for other developers to request that their construction work be allowed to continue past 8pm.
“This decision is taken on its own merit and BCA will decide on a case-by-case basis.”
Many have felt that development in Malta is coming at the cost of comfort and safety for people living here – and this issue is one of many contributions towards the expected popularity of the upcoming National Environmental Protest.
What do you make of the BCA granting this exemption?
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