The project will transform a run-down industrial area of around 350,000 square meters in Ricasoli, southern Malta, into a state-of-the-art media business park, which will also include hotels, entertainment areas and shops.

Over half of the area will be public space, with 69,000 square meters allocated to the business park itself.

"This is a new beginning for our economy and the closing of the chapter of the old economy," Austin Gatt, Malta's investment and industry minister, told AFP.

"It is the beginning of an economy based on knowledge and the intellectual ability of the Malta."

He said that despite the island's small population, around 400,000, there would be no problem in finding trained manpower.

"We are expanding our education infrastructure. The development of our educational resources is showing that we are anticipating the demand in this sector."

SmartCity Executive Director Fareed Abdulrahman said the first building would be ready in 18 months, offering 10,000 square metres of office space. SmartCity Malta will be based on a concept similar to that adopted at Dubai's Internet City, called FirstSteps.

The scheme offers temporary cost-effective office space to companies that want to test the viaibility of their business plan without making a large initial investment. Later, the company can move into a permanent space.

Sama Dubai, an infrastructure developer and a partner in SmartCity Malta, has already developed several community projects that have attracted significant business and tourism ventures.

The other partner, Tecom Investments, which already controls the telecom entity Maltacom, is expected to cooperate with local councils to ensure that residents benefit from the project.

Malta, a Mediterranean island, is the smallest of the 10 states that joined the European Union in May 2004.

Gatt said EU membership had been an important factor in attracting high tech investment.

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