MIRI: In its commitment to help Sarawak advance its digital economy agenda, Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains) has entered into a partnership with Miri City Council (MCC) for collaboration on Miri Smart City initiatives.
Both parties inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) at MCC’s chamber meeting room yesterday.
The partnership between Sains and MCC will focus on four solution modules comprising several initiatives including Digital Signage, Safe City, Command Centre, e-Local Government (eLA2), Smart Miri, Smart Tourism, Smart MCC, Safe Park, Smart Drain, Smart Bus, Smart Truck, and Miri Cares.
“Miri will be the first city or place to try to use all these digital technologies which enable us to make lives easier for our citizens.
“The Chief Minister has told us to try this initiative in Miri before doing the same for all the other places in Sarawak. This is part of the digital economy that he talks about,” said Sains chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan.
“With the cooperation of everybody and agencies helping out, we can have a proper timeline and do most of the things within the timeframe given to us.
“This is a very important project for us, so we would definitely try to do our best, no problem,” he added.
Earlier, representatives of Sains, MCC and several other relevant agencies who are members of the Miri Smart City Proof of Concept (PoC) steering committee conducted their first meeting.
Miri mayor Adam Yii disclosed that about three months ago, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced that he had approved the implementation of Smart City initiative with Miri City as its pioneer.
Yii thanked Abang Johari for choosing Miri and Dr Chan for helping to persuade the Chief Minister to choose Miri as pioneer city for the Smart City initiative.
He revealed that RM9.5 million has been allocated for the Smart City initiative which is to be implemented within nine months.
“Subsequently, Miri City Council together with Sains conducted two brainstorming sessions to determine the modules that we would like to implement,” said Yii.
The main objectives of the Smart City initiative are to improve the service delivery of MCC and enhance the facilities for the community.
At the initial stage, MCC will enhance the e-Local Government (eLA2) services to improve the service delivery of MCC. With the enhancement of eLA2 application, renewal and payment of permits and licences can be done online.
Through the Miri Cares, complaints can be directed to the Contact Centre over various channels including phone, email, mobile apps, messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram et cetera) and social media.
Also present at the steering committee meeting were Sains chief executive officer Dr Anderson Tiong Ing Heng, Miri deputy mayor Julaihi Mohamad and Miri district officer Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf.