Gianluca Vella Valletta, founder of project management company ACHV Ltd, has made the case for a “rebellion” in the Maltese supply chain.
In a document shared with WhosWho.mt, Vella Valletta wrote that while the prevailing orthodoxy in Malta is that the island is at the mercy of imported inflation, a lot of this inflation is actually artificial.
For example, he said that while the total landed cost of steel rebar is around €633 per tonne, which includes shipping costs from Turkey, contractors are quoted €1,200 - €1,600 per tonne.
He added that electric cables are sold at €2.18 per metre in Malta, which rises to around €43,600 for 20,000 metres in a 50-unit apartment block - compared to €23,800 in Italy. Meanwhile, brass threaded pipe fittings cost €7.20 - €8.50 per unit, compared to €3.80 - €4.50 in Italy, Geberit cisterns cost €186.99 in Malta compared to €139 in Italy, and Ariston Velis Evo 80 electric water heaters cost €419 in Malta compared with €185 - €315 in Italy for the same model.
Vella Valletta has helped set up the ‘Cartel 72’ initiative, a collective purchasing group for contractors to secure bulk deals from source countries as a unified front.
He noted that while international manufacturers often require large minimum orders, beyond the reach of individual firm, collective purchasing could allow contractors to buy directly from source.
In fact, he claimed that simply through a more efficient import of construction materials, contractors can save up to €360,900 when building a standard 20-unit block of shell apartments.
“The evidence is overwhelming: the ‘financial immolation’ of Maltese contractors is not an accident of geography or global markets. It is the result of a systemic extraction of value by a supply chain oligopoly that utilises ‘global crises’ as cover for ‘local greed’,” he wrote.
“The era of the ‘blind handshake’ is over. The data proves that the ‘Maltese Premium’ is largely a ‘Maltese Profit’. It is time for the contractors, the actual builders of the nation, to stop paying it.”
