SmartCity Malta plan approved

Dubai: SmartCity, a joint venture between Tecom Investments and Sama Dubai, will start construction of the master development of SmartCity Malta within a month.

The company has obtained approval for the masterplan of the $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) Smart-City Malta as well as the permit for the first building to be constructed on the site.

Fareed Abdul Rahman, chief executive of SmartCity told Gulf News that several companies have assured their participation at the business park.

Announcements will be made once construction starts.

"Today, if we look at the ICT [information and communication technology] industry, we have more than 1,200 companies in Dubai. They are our clients," he said, adding that discussions have already taken place.

The project in Malta covers 360,000 square metres of land, with a total built up area of 311,000 square metres. There will be 158,930 square metres of office space and the project is estimated to generate 5,600 jobs.

Meanwhile, for SmartCity Kochi, a similar development, the company's board has decided not to begin construction until a special economic zones (SEZ) pass is obtained from the SEZ board in India.

The company has started land surveys and designing of the master plan is underway.

Abdul Rahman said the Malta project will be completed in about ten years and SmartCity Kochi will also take ten years.

SmartCity Kochi covers about one million square metres, with a total built-up area of 800,000 square metres.

There will be about 600,000 square metres of office space and more than 90,000 jobs will be generated.

Abdul Rahman said that the company is looking at the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East and North Africa for future SmartCity developments.

"We will get into very intensive exploration," he said, not specifying a timeframe.