The government’s robust ban on all excavation and demolition works seems to be having little effect on reckless developers, after another video showing day-long excavation works on a site in Sliema was sent to Lovin Malta.

“I’ve tried calling the Building Regulations Office (BRO) several times today and yesterday,” one person who works next to the site told Lovin Malta. “I’ve sent them emails, SMSes and Facebook messages. The police won’t do anything about it apart from giving me people’s phone numbers.”

Lovin Malta can confirm that the site has no special exemption to continue excavating by the Building Regulations Office. Sources said that an architect would visit the site, but this is yet to materialise.

The continued excavation on the site, which is located next door to Strand Business Tower on Triq Ix-Xatt in Sliema, seems even more absurd given that the area is subject to a summertime excavation and demolition ban every year.

In the five days since Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the ban, several videos have emerged on social media of continuing excavation works.

The continued disregard for the rules seems to have come as no surprise to many, with the government and enforcement officials failing to adequately rein in the industry for the better part of three decades.

Later today, Moviment Graffitti and other activist groups will be holding a protest against “the developers’ dictatorship” in the country. The rally, which is calling for wholesale reform in the sector, comes just a few days after a third apartment block collapsed in under two months.

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