Design
2
020 needs to be seen as a new
page in a new chapter for Mal-
ta, where the positive results
that were achieved so far will continue
to be further built upon, always look-
ing in the longer term.
worse, nothing is learnt from the mis-
takes made and therefore one keeps on
going on as if nothing has happened.
This is definitely not the course the
Association wants taken.
The industry and the Association have
in the span of a few years garnered
valuable experience. From this, it is
imperative to understand the lessons
learnt; the positive and the negative,
and particularly so in the case of the
latter, when the most natural thing to
do would be to hold back on any action. Malta’s reputation has suffered. To-
wards the end of 2019, Malta was in
the international news for all the
wrong reasons. Chetcuti sees this as a
big slap in the face. He explains that
the building and construction indus-
try is the first to be affected by the po-
litical instability the country has been
faced with.
Chetcuti is known to try and take a fair
and balanced approach. He explains
that he does not want the industry
stakeholders to end up in a situation
where everything stalls, or else, even If investor confidence in the coun-
try’s politics declines then demand
will slow down. There are no two ways
about it. One has to consider that
the ‘beneficiaries’ of this would not
just be the building industry but also
those subsidiary industries which pro-
vide ancillary services to it. And let’s
not mention the indirect slowdown
of the economy in general, reduction
in consumer spending power, and so
forth.
So, is this something that could realis-
tically happen in 2020?
Well, it is no rocket science - yes it
could happen. But then it wholly de-
pends on how the whole situation is
handled. And when one says handled,
it must be done so appropriately with
the proverbial kid gloves. If one acts
fast to rebuild the bad reputation that
Malta have garnered on an interna-
tional plane, the damage can be con-
tained and repaired.
If investor confidence in the country’s politics declines then demand will slow down.
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