Watch: Real Estate CEO Steve Mercieca Claims Malta Is Underdeveloped
Steve Mercieca, the CEO of real estate firms Zanzi Homes and QuickLets, has claimed that Malta is actually “underdeveloped”.
“I wouldn’t say that Malta is overdeveloped, I would actually say it is underdeveloped,” Mercieca said in an interview with Lovin Malta.
“I know it’s a very sore subject because there’s a lot of construction going on, but we want affordability and we also want to stop building. It’s a chicken and egg situation – how will we have affordable pricing if we’re going to stop building, if people are still coming?”
“Malta is 317 square kilometres, out of which 33% is built and mostly condensed in the eastern harbour area. This creates a sense of overdevelopment because of construction, cranes, roadblocks, dust and a lack of open spaces within urban areas.”
Mercieca said that Malta’s small size means it cannot be compared to other European countries, but rather to European cities.
He drew parallels with Lisbon, which has a similar population as Malta but is around a third of its size and somehow feels “less crowded”.
“You don’t feel that sense of crowdedness in Lisbon, but here you do and this is the issue that needs to be addressed through better planning and less bureaucracy.”
He said that Malta’s problems of traffic and construction can also be found in other cities on a larger scale.
“Yes, we have traffic, construction, and such problems, but when you compare it to other places that Europeans and third country nationals can choose to live, Malta fares quite nicely.”
“The last time I went to London, it took me around two hours to leave the city because of all the traffic. Our problems aren’t new problems or Maltese problems, they’re European and big city problems. That’s the only thing you can compare Malta to at this stage.”
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