Fareed Abdulrahman, the acting chief executive of Smart City Malta, is confident business partners will occupy SCM 01, the first 12,000 square metres of office space to be released at the €208 million Ricasoli IT village on time next year.

“We will deliver our first office space next year, regardless of what you hear,” Mr Abdulrahman told The Times Business in an interview yesterday. “There are 9,000 square metres of leasable space in SCM 01. One business partner could choose to occupy it all or five could occupy it. It is not about the number. I am confident business partners will occupy the new office space next year.”

Mr Abdulrahman, 37, chief executive of Smart City, is occupying the interim post at Smart City Malta, replacing Claudio Grech who resigned just over a fortnight ago. He confirmed that a new chief executive is to be appointed soon and that other senior management positions are likely to be occupied by Maltese. Some positions became vacant only recently after Smart City Malta witnessed a handful of departures from the Malta office.

“We have placed a couple of advertisements in the press and there will be more to recruit additional people,” Mr Abdulrahman said. “By the first quarter of next year, the recruitment process should be over. The positions have been advertised only in Malta. The next CEO will not necessarily be Maltese but the opportunity is likely to be occupied by a Maltese.”

The departure of Mr Grech, who Mr Abdulrahman describes as “a good friend and a colleague” does not imply a change in direction for the self-sustained industry township, the largest ever FDI in the ICT and media sectors ever made in Malta.

“Smart City Malta is committed to the government, our business partners, and our stakeholders. We have taken all measures so that everything will proceed as per the plan and there is no change in the plan. This is one of the strengths of Tecom, the shareholder in Smart City: if I leave or if anyone else leaves, the project carries on.”

Mr Abdulrahman said there was “major interest” in Smart City Malta from multinational and international companies all over the world and from its own 5,000 customers in Dubai.

Smart City Malta was being marketed mostly on a one-to-one basis, particularly because decision-making processes were becoming longer in the international business environment – although the project has been showcased at major trade events.

“Malta has a lot to offer in comparison to other countries in Europe,” he said. “There are some other countries that can compete with Malta but I believe Malta can compete with them too and attract business. The IT value chain is long and involves players in media, communication, agriculture and maritime. We are very focused on ICT and media, but if at any point in time we see that there are other opportunities for Malta we will be pursue them. We have eight business parks, all occupied by knowledge-based companies. There is a large pool of partners which would like to explore other opportunities.”

Mr Abdulrahman acknowledged that the international downturn had had some effect on interest in the project but restructuring in the client sectors targeted by Smart City Malta’s marketing team was a positive factor and companies were becoming more sensitive to customer requirements. The decrease in inflation was also positive.

The chief executive dismissed suggestions of the existence of an incentive scheme for Maltese or Malta-based IT companies but said Smart City Malta was prepared to support small and medium-sized businesses to relocate to the park, similarly to the original strategy at Dubai Internet City under which SMEs were assisted in tapping international business opportunities.

“That is part of our vision to create a global network,” Mr Abdulrahman emphasised.

Mr Abdulrahman said Smart City had been “very pushy” for construction deadlines to be met.

“It has been said that there are not many people on site. What do we need numerous people on site for?” Mr Abdulrahman asked. “SCM 01 is a pre-cast structure – the pre-cast components are produced elsewhere and then they are installed on site. Construction is proceeding as per the plan. We have completed the first slab and progress will accelerate from now on.”

Asked whether he was confident Smart City Malta would generate the promised 5,600 jobs, Mr Abdulrahman replied. “Yes, I am confident. One hundred times confident.”

Mr Abdulrahman underlined the good relations with the Maltese government and reiterated that the commitment was solid. He pointed out that the original negotiations in 2006 had stemmed from Smart City’s expertise behind such projects as Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village on which Smart City Malta is modelled.

“We have been through the dotcom crash of 2000,” Mr Abdulrahman emphasised. “People cannot imagine how many dotcom companies left Dubai Internet City at the time but we turned it around in two months – we knew the focus had turned to another part of the ICT value chain.”

Such is Mr Abdulrahman confidence in the Malta project that he even suggested Smart City Malta would expand if the opportunity existed.

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