SmartCity Malta project 'proceeding according to plan'

Work on SmartCity Malta is proceeding as planned and will pick up speed in the coming months.

SmartCity Malta directors said they had endorsed the plans and had given the go-ahead for the development and financing of the entire Phase One, which included further office blocks, retail blocks and a residential cluster, all surrounding the lagoon.

The board noted the steady advances in the development of the necessary infrastructural works for the first phase, which would 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 a recent board meeting, SmartCity CEO Fareed Abdulrahman, 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 dem-olished all the factories in the previous industrial estate in Ricasoli, cleaned the site, constructed an administrative block for its operations and, last November, commenced the construction of SCM01, which is expected to be handed over to the first business partners in SmartCity Malta in 2010.

With a minimum investment outlay of $300 million, SmartCity Malta would transform Malta into a state-of-the-art ICT and media business community based on the successful clusters of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village, its developers said.

SmartCity Malta is the largest ever foreign direct investment in the ICT and media sectors ever made in Malta. The project will offer the infrastructure to develop a self-sustaining knowledge-based township comprising office space, residential and lifestyle elements.

The project is expected to generate 5,600 jobs and create a total of 158,830 square metres of office space to host ICT and media operators.