[WATCH] Government mulling legal action as repairs on Mtarfa housing estate start

Attorney General to decide whether legal action should be taken against architect who designed Binja Buqana housing estate

Michael Farrugia (Photo:Ray Attard)
Michael Farrugia (Photo:Ray Attard)

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Urgent repair works on a housing estate in Mtarfa will commence next week, costing the government at least €3 million.

Social solidarity minister Michael Farrugia told a press conference outside the Binja Buqana housing estate that works will initially focus on the basement concrete columns after engineering firm Arup and a separate inquiry had warned of severe structural problems.

A tender document for the necessary repairs will be issued next week, and the government will commission an architectural analysis “into every corner of the estate”.  

“While the government will not shoulder civil responsibility for the shortcomings of previous Nationalist administrations, we feel that it the state’s duty to take the initiative to ensure that all necessary repairs are carried out,” Farrugia said. “The families living in the estate have been left in the dark for several years, and we will now put their minds at rest that their health and safety is being safeguarded.”


The repair works will bring to a close a long-running saga for the estate's residents who had first flagged cracks in the building in 1996, but whose complaints had fallen on deaf ears at the Housing Authority.

The apartments were built in 1994 and sold at subsidised prices as part of a subsidised scheme. Paul Camilleri, the architect who designed the estate had repeatedly denied allegations that the structure was faulty.

However, Arup in July found problems in pillars and concrete beams in two of the estate’s blocks that they warned pose safety problems to residents and passers-by.

In some cases, areas of roof concrete had been prodded and pieces up to a metre had fallen. Other problems included beams that had not been properly covered with concrete and that had fallen victims to effects of humidity.

The government later commissioned an inquiry into the structure headed by retired judge Philip Sciberras. Farrugia said that the inquiry has been sent to the Attorney General, who will decide whether legal proceedings should be brought against Camilleri.

“The inquiry uncovered clear shortcomings, including incompetence, irresponsible conduct, a laissez-faire attitude, the use of inferior material that didn’t conform to the tender documents, and a lack of adequate professional surveillance,” he said.

He said that the inquiry wouldn’t be published so as to protect the residents’ commercial interests.