The construction industry in the Maltese economy today

Abstract

Until the first Five-Year Plan 1959/64 Malta had a very poor infrastructure. This tended to lengthen the process of industrialisation and even made it more difficult. But it seems now that this problem is being tackled in the right way and the industrial super-structure is already benefitting therefrom. In fact, there is evidence that industrialisation is gathering momentum faster than anticipated and one can look at the future with some optimism. In the past Malta's economy depended to a. large extent on the Services' expenditure,. the Admiralty Dockyard and the Government. The Development Plans envisaged drastic alternative to this situation. The armed forces decided to leave Malta. as part of the British Government's policy of reducing its defence commitments overseas. For this reason alternatives had to be found in order to fill the economic void with its various implications on the earning power of the country. The Admiralty Dockyard has been turned into a commercial shipping concern and, although now in public ownership, it still has to achieve enough competitiveness to attract business. The Government, besides assuming more responsibility in the running of its own affairs in a more direct way has also adopted the policy of helping as much as possible the private sector to participate more fully towards Malta's Economic development. [...]