By Matthew Farrugia
Copyright maltatoday
Il-Kollettiv has bashed the Malta Development Association (MDA) over what was described as an attempt to protect the latter’s monopoly on property prices.
The activist group was reacting to the MDA’s judicial protest against a government scheme to build homes that will be sold for 70% of their market value.
Il-Kollettiv accused the MDA of trying to “bully government and buyers” while its own board members benefit from advantageous public land deals.
The MDA had previously criticised the Affordable Housing Scheme, stating it would deny access to public land for those most in need, exploit public land by individual developers, create discriminatory situations, and negatively affect the property market.
However, Kollettiv’s Treasurer, Matthew Borg, highlighted the transfer of an open space in Mellieħa to MDA Secretary General Paul Attard for an annual emphyteusis of just €380,000, which Borg noted is equivalent to the price of a single apartment.
“Attard has never declared the intention to sell his hundred units at less than the market rate, in what is another case of unlevel playing fields,” Borg stated. The group also referenced “shady land deals such as that of Mellieħa Heights,” which they claim exploited public land to the detriment of other developers, the property market, and homeowners.
Il-Kollettiv suggests that the MDA’s concerns about the scheme stem from a fear that it “will expose how property prices are being kept artificially high”.
Further supporting their claims of an affordability crisis, Borg quoted figures from a KPMG study commissioned by the MDA in 2023. “The study found that young single people on average income cannot afford 95% of the properties on the market,” Borg explained.
Adding to the concerns of a potential monopoly, Il-Kollettiv highlighted that the post of Director General at the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCCA), the competition regulator, has been vacant since October 2023. “The Authority is responsible to initiate investigations into possible cases of market dominance, meaning that citizens cannot ask for an investigation into the pricing of the property market and the existence of a potential cartel dominating the sector,” Borg remarked.
Il-Kollettiv views the MDA’s “aggressive stance” as part of a broader effort to silence opposition to construction and the resulting overpopulation.
The group noted the MDA’s complaint about the scheme being published in August, contrasting it with the developers’ lobby’s lack of objection to planning reforms being “rushed through Parliament in the same period of time”.
