We now know more about what the Ricasoli area will look like when SmartCity will be built there in the coming years.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, together with Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt, unveiled the master plan for SmartCity Malta last week during a visit to Dubai, where an annual trade conference and exhibition focusing on IT and related sectors was being held.

SmartCity will, for one thing, regenerate an area in the south of Malta that, it must be admitted, has been neglected for decades. Picturing what Ricasoli will look like in 10 years time and comparing it with what it is today is already one reason why such a project deserves all the support it can get. It will complement all that has been done over the past years to give the Cottonera area a new lease of life.

But, of course, SmartCity is not just an embellishment project. It is the industrial and economic concept behind it that makes it such an important matter for Malta as a nation; the embellishment part only comes in because the investors, Tecom, want to make SmartCity an ideal place to work and live in.

Since the news broke that SmartCity, based on the Dubai Internet City concept that has been so successful, will be built in Malta, the country’s image received a massive boost. The fact that more than 5,600 jobs will be created is already a feat in itself, and everyone should be looking forward to the actual start, development and completion of the project. It is therefore a real pity that pro-Malta Labour Party media chose to ignore or belittle the unveiling of the master plan for SmartCity, a project from which each and every one of us will directly or indirectly benefit.

Apart from laying great emphasis on sectors such as banking and financial services, the government has for long been working to make Malta an international hub of IT. Through SmartCity, a goal has been reached and now it is up to all of us to make it work.

This is because SmartCity can be just the first of a number of projects that could help Malta’s economy in no small way. And we already have an indication that Malta could benefit from further investment if everything connected with SmartCity goes as it should.

At the launch of the master plan, Tecom chairman Ahmed Bin Byatt hinted that Tecom was already exploring other areas where Malta could be used as the place for further business between the two countries, although when pressed by journalists he said that Tecom was just leaving all its doors open.

But such comments are not just passed for the sake of it. And there is no doubt that the Maltese delegation took note of Mr Bin Byatt’s words. If Malta passes the SmartCity test with flying colours, then there is a possibility that it will be chosen again for other projects that Tecom has in mind.

All the entities involved in the project therefore have to make sure that they deliver, and deliver on time. The government will be pushing for this to happen, because it must be seen to be the prime mover of such a project from which, after all, the whole country will benefit.

The deadlines that are set – both in the preliminary stage as well as in the actual construction work – will have to be met, as this will be the first thing that the investors will be looking at. Malta has promised to keep within the timeframes established, and this is a promise that must be kept.