Malta seals €50 million loan with European banks for major social housing project

Two European banks have agreed to loan the Maltese government €50 million at low interest rates for the construction of 600 social housing apartments across Malta.

Social policy minister Michael Farrugia told a press conference that the deal with the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank - that is set to be signed later this month - rubbished the PN's warnings that foreign financial institutions are losing trust in Malta.

"The banks have also agreed in principle to loan us more money for other future social housing projects," he said. "Despite the PN's unjust attacks on financial services, foreign banks have show that they trust us enough to give us loans at low interest rates for social housing projects."

The social housing units will be built on unused buildings in Bormla, Attard, Haz-Zebbug, Kirkop and Qrendi, and Farrugia confirmed that all earmarked sites fall within the development zones. They will be energy-saving buildings with double-glazed windows and PV panels on their roofs, and include garages that can be rented by social housing residents and the nearby community. Works on the site in Irish Street, Bormla will also include the conservation of old underground tunnels.

Farrrugia said that the social housing project in Bormla will give dignity to residents of the south of Malta and proves that it proves Labour deems the south to be on equal footing to other parts of the island.

He dismissed the PN’s frequent criticism of the Labour government for not building a single social housing unit during its four years in power.

“We could have easily spent a lot of money on new social housing units, but first we had to fix some of the existing social housing blocks that had been left in a disastrous state. We spent €2 million to fix the Binja Buqana block [in Mtarfa] alone,” he said. “Although we weren’t legally obliged to fix those buildings, we felt we had a moral and political obligation to ensure that they were safe for residents.”

He added that a social housing scheme launched by his predecessor and current President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca had been shot down by “lies” from the Nationalist Opposition.

“After the attacks from the Opposition, many contractors baulked and abandoned those schemes,” he said.

Farrugia said that 50 people have so far benefitted from the government’s recent initiative with APS Bank, through which the bank has agreed to cover the 10% deposit for home loans for low-income earners for amounts up to €100,000. He said that hundreds more people have approached the authorities to ask for further information on this scheme, and that a similar initiative with another major bank will be announced in the coming weeks.