Plans to make SmartCity Malta the European ICT and media destination, offering unparalleled services to its partners in the first knowledge-based township in the region, were highlighted by SmartCity CEO Claudio Grech at a presentation in Dubai yesterday.

Attending the event were potential regional operators assembled in Dubai for the Gitex Technology Week 2008.

At Gitex, SmartCity, a joint venture between Tecom and Sama Dubai, both members of Dubai Holding, is presenting updates of its projects in Malta and Kochi.

SmartCity is actively marketing the development of knowledge-based communities, like Smart City Malta and SmartCity Kochi, to senior CIOs, knowledge workers and IT professionals from some of the Middle East's most dynamic business and government organisations as well as developers from the world's leading IT companies.

Fareed Abdulrahman, Smart City CEO said that over the next few years, both SmartCity Malta and SmartCity Kochi will open up a world of opportunities not only for the people of Malta and Kerala, who will benefit from new jobs, but also for the knowledge-based industry that will have access to new markets, talent pools and business partners. This, he added, will in turn create prosperous and educated societies underpinned by long-term and extensive networks of life and work opportunities.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has just issued permits for SmartCity Malta, developed in partnership with the government, to begin construction work at Rinella. On completion, which is expected to be in 2021, SmartCity Malta will offer a combination of ICT and media office space, hotels, a conference centre, retail, food and beverage outlets, residential units and open public spaces.

The $300 million knowledge-based township is the largest foreign investment in Malta and is expected to generate 5,600 jobs.

http://www.smartcity.ae