WATCH: Head Of Developers Has An Idea To Save Malta’s Villages From The Apartment Frenzy
Old buildings getting knocked down and apartments rising up wherever you look… it must seem to an outsider as though Malta is on a desperate quest to consign its built heritage to oblivion.
Yet in the midst of this hopelessness, someone has come up with an interesting proposal, and that someone is none other than Sandro Chetcuti, founder and current president of the Malta Developers’ Association.
“We have lovely villages with buildings of a traditional Maltese character and we are still in time to save them,” Chetcuti tells Lovin Malta in an interview. “Places like Mqabba, Qrendi, Cottonera, a substantial part of Żurrieq, Paola, Ħal Lija, Ħal Balzan, Marsaxlokk.”
“I personally don’t think apartments should be built everywhere, but whenever someone utters such a statement, property owners flinch and ask by what right they shouldn’t be allowed to convert their houses into apartments when people who own property in other towns can.”
“We must be intelligent and think about how to incentivise people to maintain the character of their towns without placing themselves at a disadvantage.”
Chetcuti’s idea, which he will pitch to the authorities in the name of the MDA, is officially called ‘Transfer of Gross Floor Area Ratio’. The details are yet to be fleshed out, but in practice it means that people with property in villages will be able to transfer their building rights to towns such as Sliema and St Julian’s where tall buildings are allowed.
“If, for argument’s sake, Malta can cope with a million square metres of built-up area, then we must think about how to distribute this million square metres,” he explains. “Instead of distributing them everywhere equally and ending up with every village resembling Bugibba and Qawra at the expense of their own beautiful character, we should balance them out.”
“Those million square metres will still be built, but they will be built in such a manner that those towns already committed to tall buildings will concentrate even further on tall buildings, while villages whose characteristics should be contained will focus on that specific type of GFA.”
Some might find it ironic that Chetcuti has come up with this proposal; as the face of the developers’ lobby, he has often ended up as a target for public outrage at the construction frenzy. Yet he is also a passionate advocate for forward-planning and is well aware that the haphazard attitude towards construction could see the industry eat itself up from within.
“Everyone wants to build on their own land, but our land is scarce and the Planning Authority and the government must understand this,” he says. “We need landscaping, countryside and fresh air in this country. After all, if we end up building everywhere, we’ll end up destroying our own investments. What’s the point of owning a lovely property if you get suffocated the moment you leave the house? If your surrounding environment isn’t pleasant, your investment will mean nothing.”
“The lack of forward-planning has been a problem since the 1960s, but now our population and density is increasing, the need for it has become stronger than ever.”
The construction industry has also been under the cosh recently for its casual treatment of its own foot-soldiers, for subjecting workers to shockingly precarious conditions that have even claimed some of their lives.
“A good construction worker earns as much as the best lawyer nowadays”
Chetcuti is quick to distance himself and Maltese developers from this problem, instead pinning a large portion of the blame on recruitment agencies who attract construction workers from “third-world countries”.
“We’re shocked at how they treat certain people. Their values are not like ours. When someone falls and hurts, they treat him like an old tool and just replace him with another worker. It’s scary! God forbid we end up embracing that type of culture…! Our members prefer working with Maltese workers than with foreign ones, we treat our workers as though they’re family, but unfortunately not many Maltese youth realise what a high demand there is for construction work and what a great career it can offer!”
That’s right, Chetucti insists that the common perception that Maltese shun construction careers because they don’t want to get paid peanuts is based on a completely false premise.
“A good construction worker earns as much as the best lawyer nowadays,” he argues. “If we had to identify a number of youths who aren’t cut out for academia but who are capable of manual work and if we had to start training them at 13 years old instead of at 17, I think that would be positive for the country.”
“It seems there’s a taboo in this country that those who don’t make it as teachers, professors or doctors are failures and that one only chooses to work in construction or manufacturing as a last resort.”
“However, it’s actually the other way round and there are great opportunities in the manufacturing, construction and catering sectors that don’t necessarily require you to have excelled in academia.”
Chetcuti oozes passion when he speaks about the industry and the MDA (“Before we were set up, everyone used to lobby for their own personal interests!”) but this chapter in his life will soon come to an end and he will not re-contest the role of president.
And there is little doubt both Labour and PN will be chomping at the bit to recruit him to their cause… after all they had both approached him to contest the 2017 general election.
However, although he admits he “loves” politics, Chetcuti has all but slammed the door shut on a future political career.
“I love politics but sometimes you can be more effective and free to say what you feel when you aren’t directly involved in it. Some people have urged me to enter politics but then my friends have warned me not to even think about it!”
“Personally, I’ve never felt as though I’m cut out for politics. I’ve had considerable success in the business world and I don’t want politics to be my downfall as has been the case for other successful businessmen.”
“One must first discover how popular they are with the man in the street; just because I was successful in business doesn’t mean the people will judge me in the same way.”
It’s off-the-cuff, it’s bluntly honest, it’s pure Sandro Chetcuti.
What do you make of Sandro Chetuti’s proposal?
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