The planning authority yesterday said it would process a Water Services Corporation application connected to the Smart City site once it is in receipt of all necessary documentation and changes as required in a previous permit.

In a statement, Mepa said it would process the application for the decommissioning of the Wied Għammieq sewage outfall plant within the agreed timeframes.

The government is contractually bound to remove the plant by the end of December 2008.

Earlier this month, the IT Ministry said the government’s failure to honour its side of the deal with Smart City means the company has not yet defaulted on its contractual employment obligation.

The Times had reported that although the construction of the IT village was on target, the number of new jobs generated fell well below the levels established by a 2007 government-commissioned study.

The 2007 contract with Smart City stipulated that the first jobs should be in place two years after the “closing date”, which had to be shifted because the government had not yet “fulfilled its obligations” to demolish the Wied Għammieq sewage pumping station on the site.

“The Water Services Corporation is still waiting for planning permits to demolish it,” the ministry said.

Labour Party spokesman for IT Michael Farrugia questioned who would assume political responsibility because the government had not honoured its part of the agreement with Smart City, thus derailing the plans of hundreds of people who had hoped to find jobs.