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.
26 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Stefan Sammut
Jul 26th 2009, 21:43
@All . Did anyone have a look at the Malta Indepdent on Sunday today? 26th July 2009.
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!
Dr. Savior Tortell Pisani
Jul 7th 2009, 21:19
@R.Gatt... Your comment is unfair... I, for one, have never voted MLP (or PL) so far... but at this rate I might consider it in three year's time! Although, I get the funny feeling that it will be like moving from the frying pan into the fire... Forget politics!... We're disussing the future of the country here!
@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...
Graham Crocker
Jul 7th 2009, 13:01
Stefan Sammut, Think about it this way: The mechanic does the Diploma, but the Engineer does the degree. :)
Mark Galea
Jul 7th 2009, 12:58
@A Zammit
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.
Stefan Sammut
Jul 7th 2009, 12:43
I agree with Joe Fenech's comment that info is being hidden from us.
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?
R. Gatt
Jul 7th 2009, 11:58
PL apologists gemgem. I'm sure your Joseph has all the solutions to all the country's problems. Pity he'll have to wait another four years and possibly more to start working on them as at the moment all he's doing is throwing spanners into the works. Nothing new from PL. Typical PL, MLP, Socialisti, Mintoffjani or whatever one feels like calling this jigsaw party.
Mike Orland
Jul 7th 2009, 11:52
@Joe Fenech
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.
Joe Fenech
Jul 6th 2009, 19:27
M.Pule' I don't think people are criticizing the project, but the way the whole project is progressing and the facts that are being hidden...
Joe Fenech
Jul 6th 2009, 19:23
Dr Savior Tortell Pisani : Malta thinks that it's going to be successful and have a professional workforce by watering down courses. This happens because unfortunately Malta bases everything on the English system. England which has a philosophy were everyone should be able to achieve exams, has a catastrophic situation which starts for GCSE (O-level) and A-level. Nowadays 70% of these exams are based on coursework - work that the pupils do at school over a number of weeks/months. Many teachers obviously cheat, because even with exams that have been specifically made more simple, many students are unable to get a pass without help. This has obviously created a catastrophic society problems - university students are doing things that are not really up to the level they're studying, therefore the UK is full of 'professionals' which are practically incompetent (apart from those who have been to Oxford/Cambridge or to a specialist higher institution). Those of you who follow the news, know that the credit crunch came from the incompetency of the so called 'geniuses of economy' in the City, who in fact, did not have a clue what they were doing! Higher education should be VERY SELECTIVE!
Nigel Lawrence
Jul 6th 2009, 14:17
i recently read an article that the Dubai company involved in this project, is stony broke and has abandoned a number of projects in Dubai. So WHO will be footing the bill to finish this white elephant?
M.Pule'
Jul 6th 2009, 13:57
The doom & gloom persons with the dark RED glasses should stop moaning & go for a holiday. SmartCity will be constructed for ALL the Maltese whether Nationalists, Labour or other supporters. Come on, be happy with a good news item in such a difficult world environment!
Dr Savior Tortell Pisani
Jul 6th 2009, 12:01
@Tony Camilleri.... So consider this:
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!
J Galea
Jul 6th 2009, 10:44
@ tony camilleri
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?
tony camilleri
Jul 6th 2009, 09:22
@Joe Fenech
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.
Joe Fenech
Jul 6th 2009, 09:22
Alfred Cassar :
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!
Colin Camilleri
Jul 6th 2009, 08:42
will we live long enough to see the smart city project realised? bet you we will not even if i am still in my thirties. it may be another time, resource and money drainer like mater dei and still not reach the officially stated objectives. (I still cannot come to terms why a hospital took decades in the making, cost 3 to 4 times as much as budgeted, has less facilities than those found abroad and still has less capacity than the "old" St. Lukes one)
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!!
Galea. L
Jul 6th 2009, 07:57
Alfred Cassar
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.
Raymond Camilleri
Jul 6th 2009, 01:13
victor vella tells joyce aquilina that GHOST is spelt with an 'H' and then goes on to use Manglish: what do you 'pretend' to see? ...'xtippredenti li tara?'... so for him 'tippretendi' becomes 'pretend' in english!!!!... what do EXPECT to see.. victor dear! ''pretend' is 'TAPARSI' in Maltese... like Smart City .... progett taparsi IT....
Roderick Mizzi
Jul 6th 2009, 00:42
If it was true, it would have been a good news. I'd like that the SmartCity project will be finished in time because it is in the good interest of Malta, but I don't think that everything it is going as planned unless they planned that the works on SmartyCity will slow down.
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.
Alfred Cassar
Jul 5th 2009, 21:41
@Joe Fenech
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
Stefan Sammut
Jul 5th 2009, 19:43
I would really appreciate if Dr Gonzi could answer this question:
"Who will be the first business partners to enter Smart City in 2010?. Will they be 'IT' or 'Hospitality' related?"
Thank you.
victorvella
Jul 5th 2009, 19:41
Joyce Aquilina.: it is written GHOST not GOST. Gost in maltese is fun.I wish it would turn out to be a fun town where while generating money for the islands the city would also provide e fun.Now as for seeing the activity, you have to remember that the first block is being built hundred of meters away from the fence . so what can you pretend to see?
Joe Fenech
Jul 5th 2009, 18:44
Smart City is a joke. You have to train people PROPERLY before you can dream of such a project like for example India does. Gonzi tried to dish out courses which are producing absolute rubbish as one can witness from the MCAST cheating case. People who are not qualified to be on IT courses are being taken on - the result is that the pressure is being transferred onto the teachers who are faced with the impossible mission of teaching students that are too weak and unprepared for such courses. Result: they have to cheat to get the results unless they want to have their job on the line. Same thing as in the UK!
edwin formosa
Jul 5th 2009, 18:01
Issa sar gost town ? Mela m'ghadux spekulazzjoni ta l-art ?
emmanuel zammit
Jul 5th 2009, 17:46
Every single person which lives in the area can tell you that ever thing has stopped there!!
DR GONZI IS STILL LIVING IN HIS OWN WORLD!!!....
joyce aquilina
Jul 5th 2009, 16:57
is dr gonzi joking.?you just have to pass through the supposed smartcity to see what dr gonzi is talking about,it is like a gost town