SmartCity Malta

The agreement on Smart City Malta, which is expected to be the biggest foreign investment the island has ever seen, was signed yesterday morning and a number of multinational companies are already showing "significant interest" in the project.
The $300 million (Lm95 million) project is expected to create 5,600 jobs over eight years and promises to transform the derelict Ricasoli Industrial Estate into a state-of-the-art ICT and Media business community. The agreement was signed between the Maltese government and SmartCity, a joint venture between Tecom Investments and Sama Dubai.

Dubai Internet City, which forms the basis for the Malta project, has over 1,000 companies operating out of it, making it one of the largest managed ICT clusters in the world. It has grown at an average annual rate of 53 per cent since its launch seven years ago.

Malta's strategic location as an EU member was among the decisive factors for Tecom in establishing the partnership.

The Malta facility will be the first European outpost for SmartCity. It is expected that global players, a number of whom have already demonstrated significant interest in the project, will be able to focus their European operations and business through SmartCity Malta.