Key Projects of Malta
SmartCity Malta
SmartCity Malta is a joint venture between the Maltese Government and SmartCity Dubai. The Government of Malta retains a nine per cent equity stake in the project, which is part of the SmartCity international business parks arm of TECOM Investments. The project is based on Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, and is scheduled for completion in 2021, although its first offices opened in 2010. SmartCity Malta is intended to become a business hub for the country’s knowledge economy, attracting both local and international investment to the country and sector. This will help to create job opportunities and contribute significantly towards GDP. The project is estimated to cost in excess of €275 million.
Public-Private Partnerships
In late 2013 the Maltese Government reiterated its hopes of propagating public–private partnerships throughout the country. The government is looking at all available forms of project financing and recognises the important role that the private sector can play in efficient public service delivery, as stated by Economy Minister Chris Cardona to a KPMG audience in November 2013. While Malta has missed opportunities for forging public–private partnerships over the last decade, the minister is confident that the country can learn from its experience and implement effective and mutually beneficial PPPs rather than carrying out outright privatisation, with the country looking to benefit from significantly reducing its current public sector borrowing requirement. The first public–private partnership implemented was for urban and rural landscaping, by the Ministry of Finance in 2002.
The Malta Investment Management Company Ltd (MIMCOL) was set up in 1988 to manage, restructure and divest the portfolio of investments held by the government. At the end of 2013, the government intended to centralise MIMCOL in its PPP strategy, providing the resources necessary for it to re-engage with the private sector in the hope of facilitating new public–private partnerships.
