Here is what a few of the key players in business and ITC think about the project’s future
Helga Ellul, Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry (MCCEI) President, told MaltaToday that Grech’s resignation as CEO was “a setback to the project”.
The MCCEI President expressed her hope that Grech’s departure “should not have an adverse impact on the huge investment that the promoters had committed to undertake in Malta”.
The Malta Chamber said it was “very confident” that the project would continue on track, as the investors and the Government, as a shareholder, had stated, Ellul added.
“We fully support the development of the Smart City project and acknowledge its importance to the economic development of Malta,” the MCCEI President’s telegraphic reply concluded.
GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia, also a Nationalist candidate for the June MEP elections, heaped lavished praise on Claudio Grech upon his departure as Smart City CEO, saying that he “deserves the gratitude of all of us” for his endeavours “to ensure that this fantastic project is won by Malta and moves on as scheduled”.
Farrugia explained that when he took part in a visit to Dubai last month, the Chief Executive Officer of Tecom Investments confirmed to President George Abela and to the Maltese Foreign Minister Tonio Borg Tecom Investments’ “commitment to proceed with the Smart City Malta project as planned albeit with some delays in the later phases of the development .
“It is not a question of rethinking but a practical appreciation that investments need to move on with a clear appreciation of actual market demand as a building of a City that becomes a ghost town will not signify smart planning,” Farrugia added.
Asked whether in view of these resignations, did he think that the project would suffer serious setbacks or not, Farrugia told Business Today: “As long as the investors remain committed I do not see reasons to worry about setbacks.
“I discussed the project with Fareed Abdulrahman, the Chief Executive Officer of Smart City in Dubai. He explained to me how he envisages the growth of the project. I do not feel that anything he said was not logical and was not well thought out.
Ffollowing his meeting with Jawad Suleiman, Executive Director of Smart City for Project Development and planning, Farrugia is also optimistic that the project will be completed on time.
“Again listening to his explanations and to detailed stage of Planning reached so far by the Smart City Directors I felt I should not fear that the project will not be completed,” Farrugia said.
“I personally think that the first phase will move on as planned and that the next phases will be highly influences by the earliest or delayed economic revival after the recession”.
According to Farrugia, “the world economy after the recession will not be the same and project that where planned for the future will move on fast. Smart City was always smartly geared towards the future and the future that beckons is more ICT.
Asked whether the 5,600 jobs promised by SCM and the Government will indeed materialise, the GRTU Director-General told this newspaper: “Once the projects really get moving the figures will materialise.
“People here talk as if nothing special happened in the world since June 2008,” Farrugia insisted. “Only in Malta do people keep asking whether we can have yesterday tomorrow too!” he quipped.
Finally, asked whether there was any possibility of SCM not being completed at all, the GRTU boss declared: “SMART City will die only if we in Malta kill it.
“There are so many people around full of negative energy and ready to shoot down anything that sounds good and promising,” Farrugia claimed.
Chris Cardona, the Labour Party’s spokesperson on IT, told Business Today that although Grech’s resignation, although expected, “alarmed all those who want the project to succeed”.
The PL noted “with satisfaction” the appreciation expressed by Claudio Grech “at the manner in which the Opposition behaved in the National Interest over the past few months”.
Cardona also noted the promise made by the developers that the project would proceed on despite the CEO’s resignation.
However, also in view of what Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said a few days ago, that the project has suffered a slowdown at the beginning of the year, “there is the need for a declaration by Government on how it is assessing the situation and the prospects for the future,” he insisted.
Cardona explained that although the project was being led by the private sector, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and IT Minister Austin Gatt had taken a “direct political responsibility before the last General Elections when they promised that the project would employ thousands of workers.
“This is an electoral promise that the Government is now bound to implement, especially in view of the fact that these declarations had led thousands of students and youths to make specific career choices,” the Labour’s main spokesperson for IT concluded.
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