In the wake of a call by the Finance Minister for more office space, Tigné project developers Midi plc said it has been calling on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to speed up the approval process for a number of pending applications.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told The Times Business on May 15 the country's service-oriented economy "requires sorely-lacking office space".

With an application for 16,000 square metres of office space at Tigné Point pending since 2005, Midi plc chief executive Ben Muscat said the consortium was unable to accommodate many potential clients who were ready to occupy the new offices immediately.

"Pending Mepa approval, the office block at Tigné Point is set to accept its first tenants in the second half of 2010," Mr Muscat said. "Yet, we have been waiting for this permit to be issued for some time since we had originally applied in 2005."

The office block is situated on the north shore of the peninsula and has views both out to sea and across the piazza, the largest pedestrian square in Malta, a spokesman for the developers said. Up to 800 employees can be accommodated in the large, open plan, modular offices with up to 1,800 square metres of rentable space on each floor. The office block is totally self-contained in terms of power, ventilation, building management systems and IT and communications infrastructure, all of which are part of the specification, along with underground parking - 500 spaces in all.

"This is a building that is future proof, engineered for the latest multi-media communications and broadband technology, ideal for the service-oriented economy Mr Fenech envisages," Mr Muscat said.

"In addition, all those who work at Tigné Point will have the benefit of enjoying a car-free environment, with restaurants, cafés, shopping, fitness and leisure facilities in close proximity within the development. There is nothing like it in Malta."

Mr Muscat sees a potential to attract more service-oriented businesses: "Lack of modern and well-located office space is a handicap at present in Malta's efforts to attract this business to our shores.

What is the use of excellent legislation and a favourable fiscal regime unless you actually have the physical space to accommodate such activities and, with respect to the minister's comments, converting villas and apartments in residential areas is surely not the solution," he said.

Apart from the office block, Midi said it has pending applications for a breakwater at Manoel Island, the application dating back to 2003, two residential blocks on the north side of Tigné Point flanking the office block for which the application was filed in 2006, the revised master plan for Manoel Island and the Lazaretto, whose application had been pending for over a year, and an application to build a low-rise commercial offer and an open air north piazza catering facility (T15 and T16), which was filed earlier this year.