Number of swimming pools up by 100%

The number of licensed swimming pools in Malta has shot up from 2,000 in 2008 to 4,007now.

In 2008, on announcing a substantial hike in swimming pool licences, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech revealed that there were 2,000 licensed pools in Malta with a capacity of 137,000 cubic metres.

But six years on, the Malta Resources Authority has revealed that there are currently 4,007 licensed pools, which have a total volume of 253,281 cubic metres.

This means that swimming pools have an average volume of 63.2 cubic metres.

The annual licence fee based on the volume capacity of the swimming pools was raised from €4 to €4.60 for domestic and from €6 to  €6.90 for commercial pools.

This means that through the latest budget the owner of an average sized 63 cubic metre swimming pool who paid  an annual licence fee of €252  will end up paying €289, an increase of €37 a year.

A 300 cubic metre commercial swimming pool will see licence fees increase from €1,800 to €2,070, an increase of €270.

Licence fees for non-commercial pools had been nearly doubled in 2008 from €2.33 to €4 while for commercial pools licence fees were increased from €3.49 to €6.

Yet despite these increase the number of swimming pools continued rising.

It also transpires that a number of licenced pools are not paying their licence.

In 2013 a total of €772,104 in licence revenue had been collected. The MRA failed to provide a breakdown of commercial and non-commercial pools. But if all 4,700 swimming pools paid a non commercial licence of €4, the government should have collected €1 million.  This indicates that some licenced pools are not paying their dues.