MaltaMedia.com

Fareed Abdulrahman, the acting chief executive of Smart City Malta, is confident business partners will occupy SCM 01, the first 12,000 square metres of office space to be released at the €208 million Ricasoli IT village on time next year, the Times reports.

“We will deliver our first office space next year, regardless of what you hear,” Mr Abdulrahman told The Times Business in an interview yesterday. “There are 9,000 square metres of leasable space in SCM 01. One business partner could choose to occupy it all or five could occupy it. It is not about the number. I am confident business partners will occupy the new office space next year.”

Mr Abdulrahman, 37, chief executive of Smart City, is occupying the interim post at Smart City Malta, replacing Claudio Grech who resigned just over a fortnight ago. He confirmed to the Times that a new chief executive is to be appointed soon and that other senior management positions are likely to be occupied by Maltese. Some positions became vacant only recently after Smart City Malta witnessed a handful of departures from the Malta office.

The departure of Mr Grech, who Mr Abdulrahman describes as “a good friend and a colleague” does not imply a change in direction for the self-sustained industry township, the largest every FDI in the ICT and media sectors ever made in Malta, the reports says.

Mr Abdulrahman said there was “major interest” in Smart City Malta from multinational and international companies all over the world and from its own 5,000 customers in Dubai. Smart City Malta, the report adds, was being marketed mostly on a one-to-one basis, particularly because decision-making processes were becoming longer in the international business environment – although the project has been showcased at major trade events.

Mr Abdulrahman acknowledged that the international downturn had had some effect on interest in the project but restructuring in the client sectors targeted by Smart City Malta’s marketing team was a positive factor and companies were becoming more sensitive to customer requirements. The decrease in inflation was also positive.

According to the Times report, the chief executive dismissed suggestions of the existence of an incentive scheme for Maltese or Malta-based IT companies but said Smart City Malta was prepared to support small and medium-sized businesses to relocate to the park, similarly to the original strategy at Dubai Internet City under which SMEs were assisted in tapping international business opportunities.

Asked by the Times whether he was confident Smart City Malta would generate the promised 5,600 jobs, Mr Abdulrahman replied. “Yes, I am confident. One hundred times confident.” Mr Abdulrahman underlined the good relations with the Maltese government and reiterated that the commitment was solid. He pointed out that the original negotiations in 2006 had stemmed from Smart City’s expertise behind such projects as Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village on which Smart City Malta is modelled.

Such is Mr Abdulrahman confidence in the Malta project that he even suggested Smart City Malta would expand if the opportunity existed, the Times report concludes.