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The news that a Dubai based company Tecom is to invest in an IT village in Ricasoli is most welcome. It is a positive foreign investment initiative which when completed should give immense added value to our country. Indeed if it does materialise, to date this is the biggest private sector foreign investment initiative in our country. A bumper deal if there ever was one. The challenge appears enormous and it is well that all involved ensure that we live up to this opportunity.
This investment shows convincingly a direct spin-off from our membership of the European Union. Many have rightly been sceptical whether the pains would be equally balanced by the gains. Well, here certainly is one concrete gain: a European outpost is being created for global ICT and media companies that want to set up and establish a presence in Europe. The minister informed in his press conference that we are the first country in the European Union to benefit from this investment. This is highly welcome and no doubt this will have a massive effect on the economy directly and indirectly.
The question to ask is whether there is enough personnel to fill the IT posts that will be on offer? This creates a daunting task for both Malta Enterprise, the ETC and most especially our educational authorities. The education department should galvanise all resources to ensure that within the required period of a few years, we have sufficiently well qualified personnel to take up these IT opportunities. These no doubt will be well-paid jobs, which could also serve as an opportunity to fend off the potential brain drain which has engulfed our country.
It is common knowledge that jobs in ICT carry more added value than the value created in textile employment which to date has been the backbone of our manufacturing industry. Nothing should be spared to ensure that this project takes off. The civil servants and the bureaucracy under whom they operate must be trimmed. The setting up of a permanent unit may not be sufficient to ensure that deadlines are reached. The minister informed journalists present that in Dubai a business can be set up and be up and running in a mere ten days. This is indeed a very far cry from the frustrations and delays any local entrepreneur has to go through before setting up shop in Malta. Police permits take ages, MEPA is renowned for delays. The whole system is bogged down in unnecessary red tape. We can only hope that this initiative will serve to streamline the whole process for the benefit not only of this blue chip company but also for all Maltese persons wanting to set up or expand a business in Malta.
The decision to allocate this investment in the South of Malta is also praiseworthy. This amounts to a political statement. This will help counter-balance the deserved criticism that to date the south of our country has all too often been the dumping ground, and the Cinderella of development with all the cleaner industries like hotels being strategically located in the north. This strategic decision could and should help dissipate this perception. It could regenerate the whole Ricasoli area. Ricasoli will no longer be seen as just another industrial estate but indeed a smart city of excellence offering vast opportunities to our educated workforce.
Indeed, herein lies the sting and in order to meet this challenge government must create incentives for students to take up information technology as their specialised university course.
Stipends should be more favourable for students taking up this specialisation.
The granting of the presently dilapidated land by government to the Dubai Company is wise. Unlike in other cases government is not offering a financial commitment.
Accordingly its risk is minimal and by not relying on government aid the company, unlike the case of the Gama Company, is showing and proving its creditworthiness. Their credentials speak for themselves as originators of the Dubai media city.
This could prove to be a foundation for our country to be a centre of excellence. It was also correct of government to grant the land subject to their commitment to create a specified number of value added jobs.
We welcome this SMART initiative.
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