Mepa said today that it will process a Water Services Corporation application for the decommissioning of the Wied Ghammieq sewage outfall plant within the agreed timeframes once it is in receipt of all documentation and changes necessary to the current application as required in virtue of a previous permit.

Earlier this month, the IT Ministry said the government’s failure to honour its side of the deal with SmartCity 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 that said SmartCity should employ about 2,800 people by 2011.

In its reaction, the IT Ministry defended the project and insisted it was “ahead of schedule”.

It also pointed out that the 2007 contract with SmartCity stipulated that the first jobs had to 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. “Water Services Corporation is still waiting for planning permits to demolish it,” the ministry said.

The government was contractually bound to remove the pumping station by the end of December 2008.

In its statement today, Mepa said  it could confirm that it is discussing with WSC a planning application  for the proposed decommissioning of the Wied Ghammieq sewage outfall plant.

Separately, the PL's IT spokesman, Michael Farrugia said the people should be given full details of the situation. He asked who would assume political responsibility for the fact that the government had not honoured its part of the agreement with SmartCity, thus derailing the plans of hundreds of people who had hoped to find jobs at SmartCity.