99 defective beams in block built by Housing Authority

A block of apartments built in Mtarfa by the Housing Authority just 20 years ago is undergoing major repairs after it transpired that 99 beams were defective and must be replaced.
This was confirmed by a Social Policy Ministry spokesman, who told this newspaper that the structural works would cost taxpayers €3 million and be completed within a year.
Built around 20 years ago as part of an extensive social housing project in Mtarfa, the Binja Buqana complex, which houses 80 families, was dogged by structural problems from the very start. By the late 1990s, residents were already complaining of water seepage, which caused extensive damage to the concrete structure, especially in the underlying garages at the basement level, where cracks developed.

Despite repeated complaints from the aggrieved owners, who had invested their earnings to buy property from the government, the Housing Authority dismissed them. Its denial was based on an analysis carried out by a number of architects on its behalf who had certified the building as perfectly safe. Despite this assurance, the structural defects got worse.
In June 2015, the Social Policy Ministry stepped in directly and announced it...