Future-proofing Industrial Infrastructure - Indis Malta Chief

Future-proofing Industrial Infrastructure

While the country has made significant strides in its recovery from the economic impact of the pandemic, 2022 is a key year in order to ensure indis Malta returns to the growth rates they were registering before, according to Chief operations officer omar debono.

As the largest operator of industrial parks in Malta and Gozo, INDIS Malta’s biggest challenge is to ensure that it has the necessary industrial infrastructure to accommodate new investment and the expansion of existing operations, thereby facilitating the generation of wealth and, more importantly, new employment opportunities. “While we manage more than three million square metres of industrial space, the fast pace with which the Maltese economy was growing prior to the pandemic means that practically all of this space is already allocated, with less than 5% being readily available for allocation,” Chief Operations Officer Omar Debono says. It is for this reason that INDIS Malta has embarked on an ambitious industrial infrastructure investment programme, through which they shall not only address the current shortage of industrial space, but also the forecast demand for the coming years. INDIS Malta also recently implemented an extensive reorganisation and rebranding exercise. While the rebranding exercise was a necessity in order to give the organisation a fresh and energetic look that reflects their dynamism, Mr Debono says that it would have been a mere cosmetic exercise had it not been complemented through a reorganisation process that enables them to better fulfil their crucial role within the local economy, which has evolved along the years. “Indeed, while previously we were responsible almost exclusively for manufacturing facilities and the two artisan villages, nowadays we also provide innovative solutions for other industries such as life sciences, ICT and knowledge-based industries, as well as aviation, among others,” he continues, “Our vision is to support investment within these and other industries through the continuous development and management of qualitative and sustainable industrial property solutions.” INDIS Malta’s tenants operate within a large variety of sectors. During the pandemic, it witnessed the entire spectrum of possible effects – from severe challenges faced by some companies to tenants being largely unaffected, but also others who actually saw an increase in demand for their products, or

“Our vision is to support investment within these and other industries through the continuous development and management of qualitative and sustainable industrial property solutions.”

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“We need to listen to the business community and other stakeholders in order to come up with innovative solutions that address the challenges they are facing, even if this would require us to take tough decisions in the process”

in some cases even managed to identify new product lines required by this new reality we were suddenly living. “Within this context, we continued to provide our assistance whenever and wherever possible,” Mr Debono states, “Internally, as everyone else, we had to make some changes to and within our offices to reduce the risk of further spreading the pandemic, and within this context there were also periods of time when the large majority of our staff were working from home. Our staff is to be commended, as we continued to provide the high level of service that people have come to expect from us.”

Mr Debono reiterates that the relentless pace with which Malta’s economy was growing meant that they could hardly keep up with the demand for industrial infrastructure. “We thus took advantage of the slowdown brought about by the pandemic to embark on our investment programme to upgrade the industrial infrastructure, thereby enabling us to be in a better position to accommodate new investments or expansion projects, which would in turn create more wealth and job opportunities. In addition, through the projects we shall

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be embarking on within the framework of the programme, we are injecting capital into the local economy, thereby contributing to its recovery.”

The pandemic has accelerated the implementation of certain technological advancements which shall be beneficial even in the longer term, such as those technologies that enabled INDIS Malta to switch most of our staff to remote working during the peak of the pandemic. The benefits by now are well-known, Mr Debono says, from the possibility to increase and enhance family-friendly measures, to the reduction of traffic on the roads when meetings are held online, amongst many others. “INDIS Malta’s work on the ambitious infrastructure investment programme continues in 2022 and in the years to come. While the various projects have different target dates for their completion, we shall start seeing the results of the shorter-term ones. We need to listen to the business community and other stakeholders in order to come up with innovative solutions that address the challenges they are facing, even if this would require us to take tough decisions in the process” n

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