The SmartCity board of directors has approved a 2010 capital budget of €48 million and a marketing plan to sell the project to China, Japan, Korea, Australia and Egypt.

In Parliament yesterday, Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis asked for an update on the project which, he said, the opposition was eager to see it succeed. Declaring that he doubted whether the PL really wanted SmartCity to be a success, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said that, apart from the capital budget approval, a number of development applications had been submitted to Mepa for the building of different blocks.

A cursory look at the development works going on at Ricasoli, he said, would confirm that everything was on time.

Mr Decelis reiterated that the opposition was anxious to see the creation of jobs and offered the government whatever assistance was needed.