Beating off stiff competition from four other competitors, Malta has managed to attract one of the most significant investments in recent years. The development of a high-tech “city” in Ricasoli, as announced by Industry, Investments and IT minister Austin Gatt on Thursday, will result in more than Lm110 million being pumped into the Maltese economy over the next eight years. Furthermore, the development company, Tecom Investments, is bound to provide up to 5,600 jobs in the same period.

Tecom is no newcomer to the IT industry. Although this is the first time that it is investing in the European Union, the leading full service telecommunications network operator and service provider are the originators, developers and operators of the Dubai Internet City, which groups together over 700 tenant ICT companies. They are also the developers and operators of Dubai Media City, which houses over 250 educational institutions in a single campus.

Creating something similar in Ricasoli will not only have a ripple effect on Malta’s economy but it will lead to the rehabilitation of an area in the south of Malta that has been neglected for many years. Minister Gatt made a clear political statement on Thursday – to bring jobs and regeneration to the south of Malta – and this is the perfect project to do just that.

Yet the proposed development is much more than just another political statement aimed at securing the public’s votes or an election gimmick. It is another tangible step in the government’s programme to turn Malta into a high value added knowledge economy. Dr Gatt has made it clear in the past that Malta cannot depend on the manufacturing industry alone to survive but the country needs to tap into the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and

related services.

SmartCity@Malta, as the high-tech “city” will be known, will prove an important asset for the country for a number of reasons.

First, it will send a clear signal to foreign investors that like Dubai, Malta has the infrastructure and expertise to become an ICT centre of excellence in the region.

Second, business attracts. Companies that in the past may have shied away from coming here will be encouraged to do so because their main competitors will have a presence where it matters most.

Third, such a huge high value added set-up will not only create jobs for locals but serve to attract highly skilled personnel that the local market is unable to provide for. Controlled economic migration could have a positive effect locally.

Fourth, it will give an added push to teaching in information technology and computer science. These are two areas that have high labour demands but insufficient supply.

Fifth, SmartCity@Malta will put considerable pressure on local service providers and possibly serve to stimulate further investment in infrastructure, in particular, a reliable electricity service in the area.

The additional benefits for the country are huge and the government will do well to ensure that bureaucratic red tape in its own institutions will not hamper Tecom from getting on with the job.

SmartCity@Malta is not another Gama, although some people will try and equate the two together. The Gama deal fell through because the financials were not acceptable to the bank. This time round, the only capital outlay is the land on which the project will be developed and even here the government has bound the developers to certain parameters.

The government, we believe, had gone public with the Gama deal a bit prematurely but that is not the case with SmartCity. Dr Gatt must have done his homework properly before sticking his neck out last Thursday.

SmartCity@Malta is the most important investment project in recent years and it has potential to give Malta’s economy a much-needed boost. In all fairness, and given that the project comes to fruition as planned, even those who disagree with a lot of what the government says and does will find it hard to be critical.

The government appears to have struck it rich.