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Showing posts from December, 2011

Short-term Construction Indicators: Q3/2011 - Malta National Satistics Office

A sample survey carried out among construction enterprises showed that employment went down by 2.5 per cent, wages and salaries decreased by 2.7 per cent and hours worked declined by 5.7 per cent when compared to the third quarter last year. Date Published: 20-Dec-2011 Reference: 242/2011 View report here. Source: NSO

Malta Housing Authority seeks property for rent, to sublet at subsidised rates

The Housing Authority has launched a new rental scheme through which property owners can rent their premises to the authority that will then sublease it to tenants at subsidised rates. Property owners will benefit from a reduced tax rate of five percent on their guaranteed rental income and will enter a contract with the authority for a minimum of 10 years, said Housing Authority Chairman Charles Borg. The property must be finished, have all necessary planning permits and be up to standard. An independent board will evaluate property to ensure it matches standards and to determine how much the authority will pay, in commercial rates, depending on the location and size of the property. The authority will then sublease the property at a subsidised rate, Mr Borg said. He added that the authority will take the responsibility of the property once leased. The authority would be strict when it came to regulating tenants as it did not want to discourage property owners from entering the

New environment permits system announced by MEPA

A new draft environmental permits system has been drawn up by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to improve the regulatory framework applicable to industrial activities of environmental significance. The Authority said the proposed system will improve the protection of the environment, while offering several advantages to industry, such as legal certainty, clearer definition of environmental liability and the opportunity to identify priority environmental issues to enable appropriate risk management. "The system which is risk-based, focuses the regulatory efforts on activities with potentially significant environmental impacts. Examples of such facilities would include fuel and container terminals, shipyards, airports, batching plants, quarries, fish farms, waste management activities, industrial activities with a discharge to sea and certain manufacturing plants," it said. Businesses that carry out such activities will be required to apply for an enviro