Smart City Malta well ahead of schedule – to be inaugurated October 10

The wheels are firmly in motion at Smart City.

A timetable for the completion of phase one has been released and the award of the tender for roads, sewage and utilities will be awarded next week.

The project is well on track, with the completion of the first office to be delivered in July 2010, 1 year and 4 months ahead of schedule, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt noted.

The first office block at Smart City Malta is set to be officially inaugurated on October 10, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Dubai Internet City.

Smart City Malta CEO Mr Fareed Abdulrahman revealed that the first tenants are expected to move in around mid-September.

Mr Abdulrahman did not want to divulge any names but an effort is made by TECOM to market the project in countries like Australia, Japan, Korea, Egypt and China.

Dr Gatt said TECOM has fully endorsed the project and had already forked out eur30m for the completion of phase one, despite the current international recession.

He said that this quashed rumours that the project had slowed down.

Phase one will include 12,000 square metres of office blocks, retail blocks and a residential cluster, all surrounding the lagoon.

Mr Abdulrahman said that the first block is being erected at a very fast pace with a storey completed every 12 days.

Source "The Times"