Smart City Malta - A Brief Account

By Author: Maryellen Lowery
Total Articles: 15
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Smart City Malta is a startling example of how technology can contribute to the transformation of a destination. Quite like similar developmental phenomena in other parts of the world, Smart City Malta incorporates a host of brilliant promises for the betterment of humankind. It is basically a technology park that is still being developed and is likely to be fully completed only in the year 2021. The exact location is in the Ricasoli Industrial Park.

Inspiration has been drawn from the very famous state-of-the-art models of Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City. The unveiling of the project took place on the 10th of September 2007 by Lawrence Gonzi, Prime Minister of Malta. Work has progressed at a lightning fast pace since then, and things have moved forward as planned. As a result, the first offices of Smart City Malta already opened in 2010. A cumulative cost of 275 million Euros has been estimated for the completion of the project. The entire development spans across an area of 360,000 square meters in total.

Reportedly, Smart City Malta is the first international venture of Smartcity, originating from ...
... Dubai Internet and Media Cities of the UAE. It is also the first outing for Smartcity in Europe. It attempts to leverage the cumulative advantages of the membership of European Union, which Malta enjoys, along with the phenomenal Dubai-based revolutions with respect to its information and communications technology parks and media initiatives.

Smart City Malta - Planning and Projections

Initially, Smart City Malta was known to hold a promise of around 3,000 jobs in the city of Malta. However, a new announcement, allocating more space to the park on 23rd of April 2008, made a promise of employing more than 8,500 people. In reality, the park has space to provide work for almost 11,000 people, which makes it one of the major economic centers in the whole of Malta.

The planning for Smart City Malta has progressed in sequential steps. Of course, aspects like a Traffic Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment were inevitable. The project has actually applied for a space of about 158,500 square meters. This is a 54 percent increase from what it had already applied for. At the same time, the floor area has undergone a reduction of 30 percent, and the current area put up for approval is about 60,000 square meters. For the recreation area, an open arena of 118,000 square meters has been proposed. The requirement for energy would be around 41.2 MW. The allocated budget for 2010 is 48 million Euros, and the construction has been progressing at a satisfactory pace. Smart City Malta also plans to market its projects in Korea, Australia, Egypt, Japan, and China.

Smart City Malta - Positives and Negatives

Pros: Naturally, the advantages are related to economic development. It will create thousands of job opportunities in Malta, creating opportunities for up to 10,000 people. Considering the fact that the population strength of Malta is modest, it is an impressive percentage. These high-skilled and better-paying jobs will definitely have a positive impact on the economy of Malta. It will also help in improving the positioning of Malta in the rest of the world.

Cons: There are people who feel that Smartcity does not conform to the ancient culture of the country. Also, since Dubai enjoys a large stake in it, the economic benefits to Malta could be shared as well.

For gathering relevant information on the Smart City Malta project online, visit the site www.englishmaltesedictionary.com. You will get to know all that you wish to from this accomplished source.