Communications Minister Austin Gatt yesterday inaugurated the new data centre of the Malta Information Technology Agency, saying it was the fruit of the government’s vision in the sector.

He said Mita served as an example of how public sector workers could be “as good as, if not better” than workers in the private sector, contrary to popular perception.

Although the government was always keen on investing and encouraging the private sector, it believed that data management should be kept in the government’s domain.

The modern-looking building in Santa Venera was completed “on target and on budget”, he said, extolling the value of investing on government property rather than renting private property.

The MITA centre is categorised as a Tier Three information centre, one of the only such centres in the entire Mediterranean region.

Throughout the evening launch there was no mention of the recent resignation of MITA chairman Claudio Grech.

However, Mr Grech gave a speech where he thanked all the workers involved in the project and criticised those who in the past accused MITA employees of hacking when its servers came under external attacks.

Though there was controversy about the legality of the unique facade of the building, he said the additional costs incurred would be recouped in three years thanks to the building’s energy efficiency.

The €7 million spent on developing the building would have been depleted in four years if a building had been rented from the private sector, he argued.

Before addressing the press, Dr Gatt toured the premises and encouraged the employees to keep up their good work.