Labour spokesman pledges IT hub for Mediterranean

Labour's spokesperson on ICT, Michael Farrugia, said the failure to deliver some 5,600 jobs from the Smart City internet city in Xghajra had betrayed promises of employment in the futuristic, Dubai-owned complex of IT companies.

The project, which was expected to generate thousands of jobs in IT and support services, has plateaued since the financial crisis and its effects on the emirate of Dubai, whose government owns Smart City's holding company Tecom.

In a press conference, Farrugia said the state of the project had confirmed the "misleading" promises by the Nationalist government.

"A new Labour government will be working shoulder to shoulder with Smart City's investors to attract companies that will invest in Malta with decent salaries for qualified IT graduates," Farrugia said, referring to Labour's recent visit to Dubai to meet Tecom executives.

Farrugia also pledged the creation of a Mediterranean IT hub in Malta, if Labour was elected.

"Recently Smart City executives complained that they were never bound to deliver on jobs or timeframes, as claimed by GonziPN...so far the number of jobs created have been a few tens employed in the construction of a sewage outflow."