Dubai Properties Group CEO Graduates From Government Leaders Programme

Dubai Properties Group (DPG), a member of Dubai Holding, today announced its Group Chief Executive OfficerKhalid Al Malikhas successfully graduated from the Government Leaders’ Programme, a component of the Mohammed bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development.

Khalid Al Malik received his certificate of completion from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at a ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai.

In line with the strategic plans and long-term aspirations of Dubai, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Leadership Development offers programmes that build and develop individuals with the aim to further enhance the leadership of the public and private sectors in the UAE. In the long-term, the initiative aspires to mould an assembly of talented individuals with the relevant knowledge, skill and experience.
 

First Ever Reading Challenge In Dubai Government Schools Boosts 830 Emirati Children’s Literacy Skills

The British Council’s 2010-2011 ‘Space Hop’ Reading Challenge, aimed at encouraging youngsters in the Emirates to read for pleasure, has come to a close this month after being successfully completed in 10 government schools across the Emirate.

For the first time ever in Dubai, schoolchildren in grades five and eight participated in the British Council’s now 12 year old reading challenge. Children were encouraged to borrow and read up to six books from a collection of over 100 storybooks and non-fiction books and could then select from a variety of activity sheets to engage their creativity and record their thoughts and feelings on the books they read. Schools also engaged the children in activities and events such as storytelling sessions, arts and crafts projects, and drama to boost their passion for reading and develop other skills in English. The programme, which ran across 24 countries from October to July, was themed ‘Space Hop’ and focused on tapping into children’s fascination with space travel and fun alien worlds.

“The British Council is dedicated to supporting educational development in conjunction with local schools, and the ‘Space Hop’ Reading Challenge aimed to promote a love of reading amongst schoolchildren. With the support of the Dubai Government Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) this new initiative saw 830 Emirati schoolchildren across Dubai take part in the challenge and cultivate their passion and enjoyment for reading,” said Karen Ryan, English Projects Manager, British Council UAE.

The reading challenge presented children with a hologram membership card, a fold-out poster with collectable stickers and a number of other rewards. In the three different challenge stages, students from grade five and eight in each school chose to read either two, four or six books in a month, with nearly half of all students reading four books or more.

“Teachers and children were really enthusiastic about this project, and one of the great outcomes is that so many of the students have developed a passion for reading for pleasure, and have built on their literacy and vocabulary skills outside of regular schooling hours,” said Fatma Al Marri of KHDA.

All students that participated were presented with certificates at special awards ceremonies at their schools to celebrate their achievements, while those who were able to finish reading six books received a gold medal as a mark of their accomplishment. Additionally, participating schools entered into a competition to win a set of 50, 30 or 20 books in recognition of their creativity and extent of student involvement in implementing the challenge. First prizes were awarded to Salma Al Ansareya Girls’ School and Al Wasel Girls’ School for grade five and eight respectively.

“Many of the students look forward to repeating the challenge next year and were very sad when it finished. It was a great way to keep them entertained, but more importantly, I believe that students who took part read more books and read more widely than those who didn’t, with potentially life-changing results,” concluded the grade eight teacher from Al Wasel Girls’ School, Dubai.
 

AskDubai Contact Centre Becoming More Popular As A Unified Platform For eServices Of Government Entities

Dubai eGovernment has recently revealed that a monthly average of 20,000 inquiries about online services of Dubai government entities have been received in the first half of this year by its unified contact centre AskDubai on phone number 700040000. This indicates the success of the call centre as an effective unified point of contact providing information services through multiple channels.

H.E. Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai eGovernment Department, said: “AskDubai embodies eGovernment’s core vision based on easing the lives of citizens, residents, visitors and businesses as it plays a significant role in enhancing the quality and efficiency of the government services provided to various sections of society in the emirate, in both Arabic and English. The centre’s mechanism of work is based on enhancing the communication of customers with the participating government entities and replying to all their inquiries through a group of highly experienced and skilful specialists. We are happy about the growing interest of Dubai government departments and entities to adopt this shared service, which is expected to achieve a remarkable growth over the few coming years as a source of information for the public about the services provided by government entities”.

“These results clearly show the rising pace of eTransformation in Dubai and the growing response of customers to the adoption of online services for completing their government transactions on one hand and increasing their trust in the efficiency and security of these services on the other”, Bin Humaidan added.

AskDubai is a 24/7 open line that allows the public to communicate with any participating government department or inquire about any online service or information related to its scope of work in Arabic and English. The centre is unique for providing a comprehensive spectrum of channels that enables the public to submit complaints or suggestions or inquire about online services. These channels include telephone on 700040000, e-mail to help@dubai.ae and fax on 04-3303399.

It is noteworthy that AskDubai is managed and supervised by Dubai eGovernment as one of the shared services provided to government entities to be able to provide their services to the public through innovative channels. It replies to the callers’ inquiries about the online services provided by the participating government entities, these being Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality, Department of Economic Development, Land Department, Dubai Chamber, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZA), Dubai Civil Defence, Awqaf & Minors Affairs Foundation, Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Islamic Affairs & Charitable Activities Department, Dubai Customs, Dubai Public Prosecution, Dubai Courts, Dubai Autism Center and Dubai eGovernment itself.
 

Dubai Government Service Delivery Model To Be Generalized To All RTA Strategic Services

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) decided to generalize the Dubai Government Service Delivery Model to all its strategic services delivered to customers and as such will be the first government entity to apply the Dubai Model to all its service since the initiative was launched last November.

H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said: "Generalizing the Dubai Model methodology to all RTA services stems from RTA’s belief in the vitality of the Dubai Model; which basically aims at upgrading the level of government services, achieving customer centricity and improving the quality of services delivered by the Dubai Government in a way that goes beyond the needs of customers and at the least possible costs. It also comes in the light of the positive and viable results of the experimental application of the unified Nol Card system; which is nominated to be the first service to apply the Model as it is vitally linked to several objectives of the Dubai Emirate in general and RTA in particular. A large number of Nol Cards is circulated among a wide segment of mass transport users through the service e-portal as well as the selling outlets.

Moreover, there is a wide base for the service beneficiaries compared to other services, the Nol card is upgradeable in a short time, the deliverables are easily measured, and there are documented processes and key performance indictors to gauge the efficiency of processes.

"Over the past six months, RTA has applied the Model to Nol service; where three service improvement initiatives have been undertaken which included a marketing campaign of Nol Card, adding new channels for topping-up the balance through RTA portal, and re-engineering the service delivery process with a view to enhancing the performance rate and reducing the operational cost of the service. The initial results of applying the Model were excellent as they were close to meeting the customer expectations of the service, and contributed to raising customer satisfaction rating to 80% and the rate is likely to increase further in the near future. It also resulted in higher service effectiveness, accelerating the processing of service-related transactions, dropping of potential errors, and reducing the overall operational costs."

"RTA is always committed to deliver best-in-class services to customers at high quality standards and at the required speed. The commitment to implement the quality standards serves multiple benefits such as sorting out problems effectively, promoting inter-employee cooperation, building good reputation, and increasing the competitiveness between employees to achieve excellence; which in turn will result in higher productivity and improved quality of deliverables to customers," said Al Tayer.

RTA Chairman of the Board and Executive Director praised the efforts of the Dubai Executive Council in upgrading the caliber of the Dubai Government services, and also hailed the project supervisors who have contributed to training and qualifying RTA improvement teams on the application of Dubai Model methodologies.

It is worth-mentioning that the Dubai Government Services Delivery Model initiative is the first of its kind worldwide in implementing an integrated model for delivering government services. The initiative comprises three major components that function concurrently as an integrated system designed to assist the government bodies with the delivery of high-class government services; which include the Model Document, Practical Applications in the Five Strategic Sectors of Dubai Government, and a package of Manuals including key service delivery tools to support the implementation by government bodies. Five government entities have been selected for running the trial phase of the initiative, namely: The General HQ of Dubai Police, RTA, Dubai Municipality, Lands and Properties Dep’t and Community Development Authority.

Al Tayer Honours RTA Best Scoring Departments In The Standards Of Dubai Government Excellence Program

Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji: His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) highlighted the importance of having in place a distinctive national leadership at various business levels, stating that, during the last five years, RTA provided all forms of support & resources, implemented development projects and introduced a host of motivational tools with a view to building and qualifying capable national leaders at all work sites and organizational levels.

Al Tayer recently made these remarks in an event held to honour the best RTA departments based on the results of the internal assessment of departments carried out on the basis of the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP) 2010, in the presence of RTA’s CEOs and Directors.

“RTA is keen on promoting its human resources and uplifting the caliber of its young promising leaders as they are the backbone of positive strategic thinking of the RTA; which has rolled out several training programs such as Qiyadi Program targeting 40 Directors and Managers nominated to take up senior management positions. It also initiated the Improvement of Individual Performance of RTA Directors Program, aimed at qualifying 140 Directors and Managers through offering them 16 different courses, and the Pioneering Program aimed at educating RTA leadership on the policies, regulations and vital processes. It also instituted the Knowledge Transfer to Rail Agency Employees Program, and made agreements with several UAE educational institutions aimed at establishing educational programs serving RTA business such as Roads Diploma, encouraging employees to pursue their academic education, and granting employees educational vacations and overseas missions.

“From inception RTA made several achievements and successes such as launching the Strategic Transport Plan 2020, constructing & operating the Dubai Metro Red Line on 09/09/09, designing & constructing roads, bridges and crossings network, upgrading land & marine mass transit systems, and setting up a corporate risk assessment and analysis system.

“In the foreseeable future, RTA will set sight on three key drivers; the first one is to offer better services to customers and strategic partners. RTA customers satisfaction rating has soared substantially over the last few years jumping from 59 per cent in 2006 to 85 per cent in 2010. The second one is to raise employees’ satisfaction rating and the third one is to promote saving and enhancement of efficiency. Saving must be a culture and work methodology of the RTA in future, and offering quality service must be an objective of each and every employee,” said Al Tayer.

Al Tayer praised the Departments winning the first five positions in accordance with the results of the internal assessment of the performance of Departments based on the standards of the Dubai Government Excellence Program 2010 where Traffic Department, Traffic & Roads Agency ranked first after achieving massive performance improvement leapfrogging from the 33rd position in 2008 to the 8th position in 2009 and once again to the first one in 2010. The Human Resources Department & Development came second, followed by Internal Audit Dep’t in the third position, Contracts & Procurement Dep’t in the fourth position and Strategic Planning Dep’t in the fifth position. Al Tayer also decorated the Most Advanced Departments where Human Resources & Development Dep’t topped the list, next came Automatic Fare Collection Dep’t as second, Parking Dep’t as third, Roads Dep’t as fourth, Drivers Licensing Dep’t as fifth, Safety and Risk Planning & Regulation Dep’t as sixth and Rail Projects Construction Dep’t was the 7th.

Al Tayer called on male and female employees at various RTA sectors and agencies to lend all possible support to the excellence teams and committees, urging them to continue the excellence drive and redouble their efforts in order to realize the aspirations sought by the RTA.

For her part engineer Maitha bin Udai, CEO of RTA Traffic & Roads Agency, said: “Winning the first position is a natural result of the efforts made by the Department last year and the success ingredients enjoyed by the Departments of Traffic & Roads Agency; which have made substantial progress in the performance criteria during the past months.

“This achievement is a source of pride and at the same time prompts us to put in more efforts as it came early on during the current year; which motivates other Departments of the Agency to take early action this year towards achieving higher positions. This status also poses a continuous challenge to the Traffic Department in order to maintain its premier position,” said Maitha in a final remark.
 

Dubai School Of Government To Host Panel Discussion On Status Of Real Estate In Dubai

The Dubai School of Government, a research and teaching institution that focuses on public policy in the Arab world, today announced it will host a panel discussion on the nature of Dubai’s real estate boom and the measures initiated to help the industry mature during the recent challenging times.

Titled “New Foundations: Strengthening Real Estate in Dubai”, the panel discussion on 26 January will focus on the legal and regulatory context that allowed the boom to happen the way it did, and the recent measures intended to help it this sector mature. It will also to identify formal practices relating to the financing and planning of projects in Dubai’s freehold real estate market.

Speakers will include Marwan Bin Ghulaita, Chief Executive Officer, Real Estate Regulatory Agency(RERA), Ludmila Yamalova, Managing Partner, HPL Yamalova & Plewka, George Shields ,Managing Director of BK Gulf, and Marios Maratheftis, Head of Research, Standard Chartered. Experts will address ongoing efforts by regulatory authorities to further standardise property transactions and identify solutions for reviving the market.

Dr Tarik Yousef, Dean of Dubai School of Government, said: “The real estate sector exemplifies the complexity of interaction between regulatory and policy making bodies, industry, the financial system and the general public. Through dialogue between representatives of a variety of sectors involved in the real estate sector, this panel discussion will give us a more holistic perspective on both the history and future of real estate in Dubai.”

The DSG event will also focus on the recent mortgage initiatives introduced by Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), and whether the new regulations will serve to increase confidence in the housing market.

Established in 2005 in cooperation with the Harvard Kennedy School, the Dubai School of Government is dedicated to the promotion of good governance through enhancement of the region’s capacity for public policy. The School collaborates with regional and global institutions in delivering its research and training programmes, and organises policy forums and international conferences to promote critical debate on public policy in the Arab world.

For more details, visit www.dsg.ae or call +9714 329 3290.
 

RTA Customers Council Explores With Government Service Providers Standardizing Procedures Of Traffic Roads Agency

In its 15th meeting, the Customers Council of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) discussed with the customers of Traffic & Roads Agency, including representatives of government service providers in Dubai, several issues through which the Council seeks to serve as a point of contact between the Agency and other organizations. The aim of the meeting was to bring about a string of holistic suggestions and views on the improvement of roads and their associated services in the Emirate. The meeting was chaired by Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla, RTA CEO, Board Member, and Chairperson of Customers Council; and attended by Dr. Aysha Al Busmait, Director of Customers Service, and a number of officials of the Traffic and Roads Agency in addition to government entities and members of the Customers Council.

Opening the meeting, Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla commended the role of various government service entities and their continuing support with solutions and programs aimed at developing and boosting services of roads and public transport network. He emphasized that RTA would continue to exert further strenuous efforts to promote the standard of services provided to the public to bring them at par with the highest international standards across a broad range of specialties.

The Chairperson of the Customers Council said: “Through the Call Center, which comprises a team of distinguished staff members, RTA’s Call Center will receive various reported cases, complaints and suggestions from the public, estimated at nearly 5,000 calls per day. Via the Customer Relations Management (CRM) system, it will also continue to interact with the concerned departments within RTA in order to address these calls and communicate with the relevant community- entities as regards the re-consideration of filed complaints.” He added that this system had resulted in a notable contribution to the efforts made to address the reported cases in a clear-cut manner.

Meanwhile, in a visual presentation he made before the attendants, Rashed Al Falasi shed light on RTA’s strategic goals in general and the roles and responsibilities entrusted to the Roads Department. He pointed out that the Roads Department was engaged in achieving 3 strategic goals out of 8 concerned with making public transport user-friendly, encouraging the public to use mass transit modes, and maintaining the environmental safety & sustainability by reducing the rate of accidents & fatalities, and minimizing the adverse environmental impact of public transport & private vehicles to the least possible level.

During his presentation, Al Falasi tackled various duties of the Roads Department, indicating that such duties included issuing NOC certificates for all infrastructure works in Dubai, rationalizing spending on road projects, programming the implementation of external bodies projects based on their approved schedules, designing and constructing roads as well as landscaping & lighting projects, ensuring the construction of a modern road network equipped with state-of-the-art systems & technology and designed to the best global standards, and regularly evaluating roads network using the best-in-class international technologies.

Afterwards the Head of Roads Landscaping Section, Traffic and Roads Agency discussed the reports and complaints submitted to the Call Center with regard to Traffic and Roads Agency. These reports and complaints touched on several issues such as the limited access to residential areas where road projects were being constructed, the damage incurred by vehicles and residential areas as a result of the ongoing works and other projects, and the inconvenience caused by contractors and road projects machinery, in addition to the damage they cause to sidewalks and landscaped areas in the frontages in the course of project construction.

The key queries and requests submitted by the public focused on the importance of lighting residential areas, repainting bridges through redecorating tunnels, redesigning street lampposts and dedicating parking lots for private organizations as well as the public.

Next, the representatives of government service providers offered several suggestions in an effort to standardize the common objectives of their businesses with the Traffic Roads Agency business in order to deliver the required works on schedules. Among the observations made by a representative of a service provider were the lacking street humps in some residential areas in Dubai, which were considered quite necessary for residents’ safety. Despite the fact that these streets have a speed limit of no more than 60 kilometers per hour, the majority of motorists drive up to 120 kilometers per hour, which poses a major threat to all parties.

In this context, Al Mulla said: “The Traffic and Roads Agency has a dedicated work team which pays regular site visits and is aware of the importance of such street humps in residential districts. On the other hand, Al Mulla noted that the existence of these speed humps may, in some cases, might trigger accidents and injuries even severer than the lack of having them.

Another customer stated that significant damage had been inflicted to some streets in residential projects constructed by mega property developers, which also assume the responsibility of building roads and other construction operations; citing a negative practice that warranted reconsideration and called for all roads and streets in Dubai to be overseen by the RTA. In this context, the Chairperson of RTA Customer Council noted that a study was underway considering the affiliation of all roads and streets in Dubai to a specialized entity, particularly noting that these suggestions had been discussed during several past meetings held by companies undertaking construction projects in Dubai in order to standardize the specifications of all roads and streets to bring them in line with the highest international standards. He added that RTA was coordinating with all concerned authorities in the UAE with regard to the standardization of streets and roads specifications such that the standards in place had to be consistent all over the UAE.

During the meeting, a suggestion was offered to the custodians of Customer Relations Management System (CRM) requiring them to refer any reports or complaints to the various associated service providers, such as Etisalat, so as to clarify any ambiguity and avoid future actions or errors. Another suggestion was also offered to set up an office at the RTA to issue unified No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to all government entities in order to uplift the service level, and speed up & simplify the processing and delivery of services in the interests of all parties. A further suggestion called for reviewing the procedures and standards applicable in the advanced countries with respect to issuing NOCs in order to apply the best practices at RTA.
 

Mattar Al Tayer Commends Executive Councils Initiatives To Upgrade Government Services

His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), reiterated RTA’s commitment to deliver top quality & efficient customer services, stressing that the compliance with quality standards has multiple benefits in providing effective solutions, promoting inter-employee relations, building goodwill, and fostering a competitive spirit among employees; which in turn pushes the drive of excellence, increases productivity and improves the quality of products offered to customers.

Al Tayer made this statement while opening a workshop held by the Dubai Executive Council for RTA employees with the aim of selecting RTA’s Improvement Service to illustrate the delivery of government services in implementation of the Dubai Model initiative launched by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council. Such initiative aims primarily at raising the efficiency of government services, enhancing customer centricity, and improving the quality of services delivered by the Dubai Government in a way that exceeds customer expectations and delivers a cost-effective service.

In attendance of the workshop there were the CEO of Rail Agency Ahmed Hashim Bahrozyan, CEO of Corporate Technical Support Services Sector Abdullah Al Madani, CEO of Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector & Head of Dubai Service Delivery Model initiative Team Yousef Jawad, and Director of Customers Service and Deputy Head of the Team and Head of Service Improvement Team Dr. Aysha Al Busmait in addition to several RTA directors and managers. From the Executive Council attended the Advisor of Dubai Government Services Delivery Model Dr. Wafa Abu Senainah, Director of Dubai Government Services Delivery Model initiative Iman Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Manager of Private Projects Nowaar Bel Shalat, and Assistant Project Manager Mushirah Al Zaarooni.

The Workshop included training RTA work team, which comprises representatives of various RTA agencies, on the core ingredients of self-assessment; which include the services from customers’ perspective, service charter, service identity, customers’ experience of the service, service stars, and service improvement. The attendants exchanged views about the selection of the Improvement Service; on which the Initiative will be applied as a benchmark for measuring the efficiency following the introduction of Dubai Model.

It is worth-mentioning that the Dubai Government Services Delivery Model initiative is the first of its kind worldwide in implementing an integrated model for delivering government services. The initiative comprises three major components that function concurrently as an integrated system designed to assist the government bodies with the delivery of high-class government services; which include the Model Document, Practical Applications in the Five Strategic Sectors of Dubai Government, and a package of Manuals including key service delivery tools to support the implementation by government bodies. Five government entities have been selected for running the trial phase of the initiative, namely: The General HQ of Dubai Police, RTA, Dubai Municipality, Lands and Properties Dep’t and Community Development Authority.
 

CDA Participates In The First Implementation Phase Of Dubai Government Services Delivery Model Initiative

The Community Development Authority (CDA) has announced its participation in the first implementation phase of Dubai Government Services Delivery Model Initiative, one of the most advanced systems to improve service led by efficiency enhancement and a stronger customer focus.

The selection criteria for the government institutions in the first implementation phase of the initiative was based on the five strategic sectors of Dubai Government, the diversity of their nature of work and the structure of these institutions.

"The Dubai Government Services Delivery Model Initiative paves the way for further cooperation and coordination between government bodies, which will bring about an exceptional level of efficiency and quality across all services, which is in line with Dubai Strategic Plan 2015," said Khaled Al Kamda, Director General of CDA.

"The main objective of CDA and its partners is to providing customers with high quality services and unique experience that save their time and efforts. This will require more investments in human capital and training to find qualified people who can play a vital role in providing a great customer service experience," added Al Kamda.

The Dubai Government Services Delivery Model Initiative aims to enhance customer services in Dubai by following global best practices and methods to improve the performance of government organizations, and to provide accurate information on the progress of services.

The model has been developed based on several key factors including involving customers from different backgrounds, cooperation and coordination between government bodies, prudent spending and others.

CDA participates in the first implementation phase of the initiative as representative of the social sector in the Emirate and provides wide range of services to a large segment of citizens.
 

TECOM Investments And State Government Of Kerala Sign Lease Agreement For Smartcity Kochi

A lease agreement that will flag off the development of SmartCity Kochi, an IT infrastructure project jointly promoted by TECOM Investments and the State Government of Kerala in India, has been signed between Abdullatif AlMulla, TECOM Group CEO who is also the Vice-Chairman of SmartCity Kochi, and Suresh Kumar, IT Secretary of the Kerala Government.

The lease agreement for 246 acres of land will set the momentum for the development of a self-sustained knowledge-based industry township in Kochi. It will also bring TECOM Investments a step closer to its international expansion strategy of creating successful prototypes of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City at various locations worldwide.

The lease agreement was duly registered the same day for the clustered tech project, which will take shape with an initial investment of US$350 million and generate large-scale employment opportunities in the IT and allied sectors.

The signing ceremony was held during the Board of Directors’ meeting at Infopark. S. Sharma, Minister of Registration and Fisheries and Chairman of SmartCity Kochi, was present during the occasion.

On behalf of TECOM Investments, M.A. Yusuff Ali, Managing Director of EMKE Group, and Anirudha Damkey, Executive Director-Corporate Finance, signed as witnesses, while K. Kurian, Senior Technical Advisor of Infopark, Kochi, and Binu Pazhoor, Chief Executive Officer of Infopark, signed as witnesses on behalf of the State Government of Kerala.

AlMulla said: “This key step reflects our confidence in the vision for SmartCity Kochi and our commitment to the people of Kerala. We are optimistic about completing this project as planned and fulfill all the time-bound contractual obligations mentioned in the framework agreement.

“The progress that will result from the signing of a fresh lease agreement will give further momentum to our plans of continuing the expansion of the SmartCity global network. Reflecting the success story of our knowledge clusters, we aim to utilize the SmartCity project to further strengthen the economies of the communities we are located in.”

Construction on SmartCity Kochi is expected to begin soon after the Special Economic Zone notification is received for 131 acres, which has already been cleared by the Board of Approval of India’s Union Commerce Ministry.

SmartCity Kochi will be one of India’s largest business parks and include a state-of-the-art business community infrastructure and a dynamic range of retail, hospitality, residential and recreational facilities to drive productive business as well as a quality lifestyle. Apart from drawing strong foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, the project’s multiplier effects are expected to bring several additional benefits to the economy.

The first European outpost of the global SmartCity network, SmartCity Malta is set to become the leading ICT and media destination in the Mediterranean. SmartCity Malta received the ‘Best Investment Award in Europe’ award in 2009, recognising the project as the largest foreign direct investment in a European country.

SmartCity’s self-sustained townships will seek to harness commerce by providing an environment conducive to business, intelligent infrastructure and advanced support systems. SmartCity entities worldwide will be home to vibrant knowledge economies that are anchored by international, regional and local companies.