Sunday, 5th July 2009 - 15:31CET
Works on SmartCity Malta 'progressing as planned'
Works on SmartCity Malta are proceedings as planned and are expected to accelerate in the coming months, SmartCity Malta said in a statement today.
Earlier today Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi also said the SmartCity development was going according to plan. Concerns about the project were expressed in a Maltese language newspaper earlier today as well as in comments submitted to timesofmalta.com.
"The board members endorsed the plans of SmartCity Malta to proceed with the development and financing activity of the entire Phase One, which includes also further office blocks, retail blocks and a residential cluster, all surrounding the lagoon," SmartCity said.
"In parallel, the Board noted the steady advances in the development of the necessary infrastructural works for the first phase which will enable SmartCity Malta to provide the highest levels of infrastructural services to its prospective business partners, spanning from sustainable utility services to best-of-breed telecommunications services."
Referring to the outcome of the Board meeting, Fareed Abdulrahman, CEO of SmartCity said "We are all keen and impressed by the prospects of SmartCity Malta and are confident that, regardless of all the hurdles that a development of this size needs to go through, SmartCity Malta will be a great success and will encompass the vision of Malta to becoming a Smart Island."
To date, SmartCity Malta has demolished all the factories in the previous industrial estate, cleaned the site, constructed an administrative block for its operations and in November 2008 commenced the construction of SCM01 which is expected to be handed over to the first business partners in SmartCity Malta in 2010.
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Some truth is coming out. 2 Key persons have resigned, and the construction is far off from being on track.. Mepa has no pending applications to process for SmartCity. Hope the project does continue.. However "progressing as planned" is a big lie!
@Mike_Orland... People like your brother (if he's as good as you claim) are few and far between! The vast majority of MCAST students are those who failed University entry... nothing will ever hide that... It's useless twisting the facts around. Some are excellent but MOST are not! At University the situation is somewhat better because there is that added filter. Period!
You also got it quite wrong... The Microsoft ImagineCup "bookworms" you mention are excellent students that stood up to the test without any external help (unlike in MCAST!) so I am quite sure that they will make Malta proud in Egypt.
@Stefan_Sammut: The fundamental problem with MCAST is that the qualifications they churn out like sausages, are meaningless. They have been undermined by a poor assessment system. ANY idiot can get an MCAST DISTINCTION. But that doesn't mean they are all idiots...
While I agree to part of what you said, I find it ridiculous to imagine PL in government! PL leaders have only seen Castille for 22 months in the last 22 years. I also find it strange that you call people that do not agree with you as brainwashed, since these people voted PL in opposition always (except once) during the last 22 years.
We are completely going off subject and this has become a debate regarding what's not and what's qualifcation. UNI vs MCAST! It is up the to employer to determine whether the qualifications, experience of track record of the individual are fit to the job!
It would be great, if someone who knows more infrormation of where the project is going? or could sched some light on my previous question? Is this project going to cater for IT sector or just a hospitality related project with hotels, restuarants ETC?
You surely would not be speaking this way if you had your child graduated from MCAST's IT Dept.
It is wrong to say people cheat without any prove what so ever. My brother is an MCAST graduate with a Higher National Diploma and he has a track record of 95% DISTINCTIONS. Multiple O-Levels (you have to multiply 4 by more than 3fold) and also A-Levels in his pockets. Rest assured he can outsmart you in anything you like.
Now being pour unprepared MCAST or the excellence of our genetic pool, i don't care much. I am sure that my bother has all the qualifications in the field and few students can compare with his capabilities including University students. If you follow a bit the national scene you could see that 4 university bookworms who know nothing about public speaking and presentations will be representing Malta this year in Egypt. It nice to see this and get to know one of their teachers will be there too as a judge and would be offended not to have university represented.
Rest assured that my brother never cheated to be just the BEST.
A student scrapes through with mere passes in four (4!) scant O-Levels. He is accepted into one of the Level-4 MCAST-BTEC National Diploma Courses - lasting 1 year full time and some apprenticeship.
The student can then proceed to the MCAST-BTEC Higher National Diploma. That's 2 more years full time.
Subsequently, with just 1 additional year of training, the student is then awarded nothing less than an Honours Degree that is being painted as being equivalent to that of University!!!
and Hey presto.. We have a Software Engineer or an Electronics Engineer etc...
Who are we fooling?
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maybe?
Or the would-be Smart-City industry?
Certainly not me...
How can you ever convert a class with a majority of poor performers, who struggled to obtain 4 mere O-levels, into fully fledged University-Level, Honours Graduates in just FOUR SHORT YEARS OF FULL TIME EDUCATION?!?!?!? I don't think that the part-time apprenticeship is going to make up for the difference.
And you don't even need to take my word for it.... Go download the MCAST Prospectus and see for yourself!! The mind boggles at this nonsense!
Would you be so kind and be more specific to:
1) where this intitution is proving to be other than success, and
2) what feeling are you referring to that according to you we are now having for the wrong decisions?
I fully concur with your comment which states that vocational education at MCAST is NOT really the PICTURE that the authorities are earnestly and continuously trying to depict.
One has to keep in mind that there is a lot of propaganda going on about this educational institutiion and the reason for this is that you cannot prove that something is good when you know that it is actually proving the opposite.
Do NOT forget that in Malta, we had one of the MOST excellent Educational Institutions which was the Fellenberg Training Centre. This has been closed and replaced by MCAST. When I say closed, I mean that most of the competent teachers working there had no option (due to the conditions offered to them) but to resort to find refuge in other state schools leaving behind their valuable experience in technical education. This had resulted in a vacuum in the vocational sector which raises the urgency to fill in the vacant places no matter the teaching and technical experience of those who were appointed as teaching assistants. Today, we are feeling the wrong decisions taken at that time - however the propaganda still goes on.
Oh, so PL/MLP agree with me then (I've never been part of them!)! Me grow up?: look at yourself - you label everyone who criticizes the government! So what I said (you focused on one prase!) is a lie according to you???
EU membership a success?: joining a topsy turvy team is hardly something to be proud of. And don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about...I've probably lived in it ages longer than you!
if our ancestors took the same approach like we do now, they would still be building the Hagar Qim and Hypogeum!!!
at the end of the day, it is business as usual in Malta. a constant state of disorientation!!
Mater Dejn, EU membership a huge success?
Valletta Waterfront is a private investment.
MIA is nothing except privatization which has increased fees.
Delimara power station cannot take the load without the Marsa power station.
The new tender is full of questions and questionable intrigue.
Grow up Alfred.
Let's hope that the Prime Minister is correct on this one because I don't want to hear bad news about this project. I'd like the best for my country and our people.
According to PL/MLP everything done by the PN Government was a joke. MIA, Delimara power station, Valletta Waterfront, EU Accession, Mater Dei, etc etc etc. They all ended up being a huge success for Malta. I'm sure that Smart City will be the same story.
Grow up Mr Fenech
"Who will be the first business partners to enter Smart City in 2010?. Will they be 'IT' or 'Hospitality' related?"
Thank you.
DR GONZI IS STILL LIVING IN HIS OWN WORLD!!!....