The former Marsa shipbuilding site, which covers 172,000 square metres, is to be transformed into a maritime park.

Once the design and plans are ready next year, an application for the project will be submitted to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech pointed out that Malta’s maritime register was among the largest in Europe and amounted to more than 5,800 ships and super yachts – an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year, generating around €12 million.

Meanwhile, the former Air Malta head office in Luqa, which has been transferred to Malta Industrial Parks, will be transformed into a zone dedicated to the aviation sector.

The development is expected to take place through a public-private partnership and will incorporate logistical facilities, education, training and other related activities.

The Government invested €17 million in the infrastructure to set up the Safi aviation park and already had several companies operating from there.

Companies such as Lufthansa Technic, SR Technics, Medavia and MCM, among others, created thousands of new jobs and increased their operations over the past four years, the minis-ter said.

At present, there are around 104 registered planes on the Maltese aviation register – an increase of 21 per cent over 2010.

There is interest from companies to set up operations in Malta and Transport Malta is in contact with 30 of them and in advanced discussions with six.