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MT 23 July 2017

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 JULY 2017 6 News CONTINUE FROM PAGE 1 Additionally, MaltaToday is in a position to reveal that the floor area allocated for villas and apartments in the new masterplan will increase by 111,428 square metres, roughly the size of 16 football grounds. That means that developers Ricasoli Properties are hoping the Maltese parliament will approve changes in the masterplan that will hive off 35% of the total floor area at Smart City for residential development – com- pared to just 20% in the original plans in 2008. Redolent of the warnings by then Labour leader Al- fred Sant, now just 41% if the floor area will be allo- cated to offices for ICT and media, down from 51% in the original 2008 masterplan. In the meantime however, real estate agents are al- ready busy selling off Ricasoli Properties' 10-storey Shoreline apartments on plan, raising concerns by the Malta Developers Association of unfair competition. The project includes a two-storey commercial complex with retail shops and supermarket partially located be- low ground, fronting a landscaped plaza and laguna walk, and three-storey underground car park. Controversy will certainly ensue over the fact that under the 2008 contract, tenants could redeem their lease on the land earmarked for apartments and villas at just Lm1.75 (€4) per square metre. Changes in floor area Changes proposed to the Smart City masterplan fore- see a dramatic increase of 185,864m2 in the developable floor space of the whole project, over and above what was originally approved in 2008. This represents a 59% increase in floor area over what was allowed 10 years ago. The increase corresponds to changes in building SMART City is still a work-in- progress despite the attraction of big names to its office complex. In 2006, the project – a deal with Dubai's Tecom Investments, a subsidiary of the Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Mak- toum's giant holding company - was set to create 5,600 new jobs, two-thirds of which would be knowledge-based. From that point on, the word "smart" became an integral part of the Nationalist Party's narrative: during its Independence Day fes- tivities in September 2006, the PN unveiled the slogan 'Int@Smart- Malta' – even while negotiations with Tecom were still ongoing. Months before the 2008 elec- tions, the government launched a media blitz with posters of promi- nent personalities endorsing the government's 'Smart Island' strat- egy. The campaign included per- sonalities such as then Malta In- dependent editor Noel Grima, PBS journalist Daphne Cassar, presenters Peppi Azzopardi, John Bundy, Claudette Pace (still work- ing at NET at the time), Claire Agius Ordway and Gianni Zam- mit, GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia, actor George Micallef, author Trevor Zahra, footballer Carmel Busuttil, GO CEO Sonny Portelli, Children's Commissioner Carmen Zammit, businessmen Jonathan Shaw, Ivan Bartolo and the late Desmond Vella, KNPD chairperson Joe Camilleri, singer and later Transport Malta execu- tive Konrad Pule, and actor Owen Bonnici. Opposition leader Alfred Sant was repeatedly accused of at- tempting to derail the project when he questioned the real es- tate component of the project. Sant had warned that Smart City would "serve to screen the trans- actions of luxury apartment entre- preneurs from abroad", and that the government had camouflaged this intention by "boasting about the thousands of jobs in IT" Smart City would create. "But we have been here before. At Chambray, at White Rocks, at Cottonera and elsewhere, the same generous job promises were made and then buried," Sant said. Terms of concession The land at Smart City was origi- nally the Ricasoli industrial estate, which could only be leased or sold off in the first place by a vote in the House of Representatives for inclusion in the new development schemes. MEPA changed its local plan to accommodate the development, earmarking Ricasoli for "informa- tion and communication technol- ogy industries" while permitting residential, hotel and commercial development. It also paved the way for a new arterial road, link- ing Tal-Barrani road with Kalkara, which has so far not materialised; and for the relocation of a pro- posed Sewage Treatment Plant from the Wied Ghammieq sew- age outfall, to a pristine site in Xghajra. 2008 2017 Change GFA sq.m GFA sq.m Commercial 92,200 120,396 +28,196 Residential 62,800 174,228 +111,428 Total Res+Com 155,000 294,624 +139,624 ICT and Media 158,550 204,790 +46,240 Total 313,550 499,414 +185,864 Gross Floor Area (GFA) figures refer to the total area on different floors allocated for each of the three main components of project. Data for development approved in 2008 is derived from document entitled "approved dominant land use and zoning." Figures for 2017 are derived from the 'Land use and Use and floor area schedule'. Both documents have been presented with a planning application presented in February to change the Smart City masterplan. How original 2008 residential floor area at Smart City will grow Smart City's residential area to increase by 177% The Smart City story The original 2008 masterplan The site for the new supermarket and 12-storey Shoreline complex As originally planned, but this 2008 rendition of the Smart City internet city is - almost a decade later - far from completion. Only the laguna and inner complexs have been finalised (below right)

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