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Your report on Sunday 17 September 2005 (“From IT to real estate and hotel”) was based on a malignant and selective reading of the confidential advanced document submitted by the Government and the developers of the SmartCity project to MEPA for their feedback before a formal application is made.
Your assertion that the SmartCity project is not an ICT project in its focus and orientation but rather a real estate development is baseless and intended to mislead your readers.
Firstly, the Ministry has, ever since the announcement of the project made it unambiguously clear that the new SmartCity “will include a new fully-fledged ICT and Media Smart City that will be accompanied by new state-of-the-art use of the environment of the site with the development of a hotel and other activities to help attract knowledge-based operations to the site. This is expected to create a cluster environment to service tenants in the site in a cost-effective and efficient manner.”
Nothing has changed from that first description of the project. The nature of the project is and will be what it has been since it was first conceived.
Whilst maintaining that it would be more appropriate to make such statements only after the negotiations are concluded, the Ministry has no alternative but to correct the misleading impressions your publication has created by providing details of the proportionate distribution of the project as currently planned. It is important to clarify that these figures are subject to change until the actual conclusion of the presently ongoing negotiations.
Much has been made of the baseless statement that “only 19% of the SmartCity project is dedicated to ICTs”. This is absolute rubbish and the following figures are intended to correct this absurd impression.
The ratio of land use – namely footprint – on the SmartCity site is: 20% used for villas and apartments; 33% used for open public areas; 47% used for activities to generate jobs (ICT and commercial).
The 47% above quoted is further divided into: 19% used for ICT and generating at least 3,600 jobs; 28% used for hotel and retail activities generating 2,000 jobs.
The percentages above-quoted refer merely to footprints or the amount of land used without considering the number of stories and use thereof. Everyone knows that an averaged-sized terraced house will comfortably house 6 residents. But a building of the same size can have at least 20 people using it as their office. Moreover, your report appears to have assumed that offices can only be built as high as a house. But of course this is not the case. On the same footprint, more office space is gained by building higher.
The 19% figure is absolutely irrelevant in the scheme of things.
When quoting the draft document submitted to MEPA, you neglected to provide you readers with the crucial information that over 119,000 sq mt of Ricasoli (now fenced behind stone walls) will become a publicly accessible landscaped open space. Obviously, this ‘detail’ on the largest component of the project did not fit whatever agenda you may have and hence you chose to discard or downplay it.
What is relevant is that the leaked draft PDS proposes that of the total built-up area: 138,000 sq mt or 46% will be ICT/Media office space (larger than Dubai Internet City itself); 88,000 sq mt or 29% will be will be used for the ancillary commercial activities; 74,000 sq mt or 25% will be used for 460 residential units equivalent to 8% of the working population of the City. There are 40 premium villas planned that are likely to be occupied by senior officials working at SmartCity itself and the remainder of the lodging units are apartments.
Of course when quoting from the leaked document you could have easily realised this but deceived your readers with the ridiculous notion that offices can only be one storey high.
This information is being provided to you in terms of the Press Act.
Jesmond Saliba
Ministry of Investments, Industry and IT
Editorial Note: The role of the press is to inform. The role of the government is to say the truth. MaltaToday revealed that SmartCity was not only limited to IT but was primarily a real estate development project. At no point did the government reveal these intentions. For the sake of clarity we are reproducing a detailed breakdown of the proposed development which includes number of storeys. At no point did we make reference to the number of storeys in the planned development.
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