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.