Updated 4.50pm with PN statement
Malita Investments will be trying to get additional financing from its banks to finish three separate housing projects, the troubled PLC said in a statement late on Thursday.
In a company announcement issued on Thursday night, Malita said a strategic review it began in early November was unsuccessful in determining an alternative means of bankrolling its pending projects.
“The Company explored various options with relevant stakeholders to determine the most appropriate path forward for completing the affordable housing programme. These options have not found acceptance at this time,” Malita said.
The company said it is now in talks with its banks to “secure the necessary funding to enable works to resume”.
Works are currently halted at three separate Malita sites – Cospicua, Qrendi and Ħal Farruġ, Luqa – due to liquidity issues.
According to Malita’s 2024 annual report, those three sites comprise 364 housing units in total, with 69 units in Cospicua, 28 in Qrendi and a massive 267 units in Luqa. The latter also includes 287 garages and car parking spaces.
Malita has been wracked by controversy in recent months, with contractors suing the company for unpaid works, shareholders unhappy at the company’s failure to pay dividends and a former company chair accusing Housing Minister Roderick Galdes of trying to meddle in the company and “hobnobbing” with contractors it engaged.
Malita is publicly listed on the Malta Stock Exchange but is 80 per cent government-owned. The company was established to help finance major state infrastructure projects and has in recent years focused its efforts on managing state social housing projects.
It says it has so far completed 392 housing units at 12 different sites.
Malita board secretary quits
The company has seen some major personnel changes this year. Its CEO and CFO resigned earlier in the year, with the company then handing its chairman executive functions.
But last month the executive chair, Johan Farrugia, also quit without explanation. He was replaced by former tax chief Marvin Gaerty.
And in a separate company announcement issued late on Thursday, Malita announced that its company secretary, Albert Cilia, has also resigned his position effective December 5. He is being replaced by Desiree Cassar.
PN: Minister must resign
In a statement, the Nationalist Party reiterated its calls for the minister responsible for Malita, Roderick Galdes, to resign.
“Projects intended to support Maltese and Gozitan families in accessing affordable, dignified housing have now been completely halted because the Government failed in its management of a company it directly controls,” the PN said.
It also noted that Galdes has been embroiled in a second scandal, after Times of Malta revealed that Galdes bought a penthouse and garage off developer Joseph Portelli for €140,000, signing the promise of sale in the same year Portelli agreed to lease property worth €27 million to the Galdes-controlled Housing Authority.
