The Malta Employers Association described the SmartCity project as “exciting” and a “milestone in Malta’s economic development”.

“It is up to all stakeholders to ensure that Malta maximises the benefits that should result from this investment. The project should increase Malta’s visibility abroad and will become part of the national branding exercise. Therefore the exposure that the country obtains from the project will also benefit other sectors of the economy, such as tourism, and also act to attract other investment projects to our shores,” according to the president of the MEA, Pierre Fava who was speaking during a meeting at the MEA premises with the Minister for Investment, Industry and IT, Dr Austin Gatt.

The meeting was held to explain the details of the project’s implementation. The MEA was satisfied that the project would generate thousands of high value added jobs in Malta, which was essential to reduce the gap in living standards between Malta and the more advanced economies in the world.

Mr Fava said that, over the past months, many employers have been complaining about the lack of staff to fill various vacancies, and this was a major reason why the number of applications for work permits for foreigners submitted to ETC was on the rise. “Therefore we need to take advantage of the fact that the project will be developed over a number of years, which should give us sufficient lead times to involve all parties concerned and to build a strategy that will result in a smooth development of the project,” he said.

Mr Fava also mentioned the need for fast-track processing so that the project would immediately start to take shape. He said that the projections for employment and the general impact on the economy, as revealed in the KPMG report, all pointed to the fact that SmartCity will lead to a substantial increase in Malta’s GDP, and make a healthy impact on public finances.

Mr. Fava expressed satisfaction that the ministry had taken action on many of the proposals that were included in the position paper that the MEA had issued on the need for a human resources strategy for SmartCity last year, and pledged that the association would definitely offer its full cooperation to make SmartCity a major pillar of the Maltese economy.