IPOH (March 23): Ipoh will be Malaysia’s fourth smart city after Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Petaling Jaya by 2030, but with a different concept, namely ‘People, Infrastructure and Environment’.
Perak Menteri Besar, Datuk Saarani Mohamad said the Ipoh Smart City Action Plan would be implemented through strategic cooperation between Ipoh City Council (MBI) and PlanMalaysia and several agencies, to give a fresh dimension to the development direction, besides creating new benchmarks to city development in the state.
“Several objectives have been lined up to make Ipoh an information technology-friendly city and to overcome urban problems through smart solutions, besides making Ipoh residents cheerful, healthy, smart and having high-technology skills.”
He said this in his speech at the launch of the Ipoh Smart City 2030 concept here today, which was also attended by Ipoh mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin.
Saarani said the Ipoh Smart City Action Plan targets seven domains – Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart Governance, Smart People, Smart Digital Infrastructure, Smart Economy and Smart Mobility, as the solutions to 24 challenges and potentials identified for Ipoh City.
He said the state government had established cooperation with Telekom Malaysia to increase the Internet speed from 100MB to 1GB, through the UNIFI Fiber Optic Project implementation starting with Ipoh City centre, to support the smart initiatives undertaken.
“Besides that, I hope this plan will be a catalyst to MBI’s bigger plans in future including implementing the automatic management system, especially with regard to the traffic system, identifying vacant parking bays, information on weather, disasters or flash floods, garbage collection, and management of summonses and complaints.
“Efforts towards this have commenced at the initial stage in a number of services such as Park@Perak, e-Aduan, online payment, online application, and safe city monitoring through CCTVs,” he added.
Earlier, Saarani witnessed the signing of memorandums of understanding (MoU) by Rumaizi with Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah for the Ipoh Bandaraya Bestari Sejahtera study with Tenaga Nasional Berhad for the installation of solar panels at the Perak Urban Transformation Centre (UTC), and with Sunway for the proposed upgrading of part of the Tambun area.
Meanwhile, TNB Retail chief officer Datuk Ir Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan told a news conference that the installation of photovoltaic solar panels at the Perak UTC could save up to RM2.5 million for MBI, under the Supply Agreement of Renewable Energy SARE) for the contract period of 21 years.
“The benefits of using the PV solar panels are not only in line with MBI’s efforts towards creating a sustainable smart city that is cleaner, greener and progressive, but also saving RM47,964 in electricity bills in the first year of the project.
Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, who was also present, said the group plans to spend RM2 billion on developing part of the Tambun area within a period of seven years.
“We are constructing a number of buildings including a medical centre, university campus and shopping centre, in hope of attracting more visitors to enjoy the facilities and services offered there,” he added.
SOURCE: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ipoh-be-malaysias-4th-smart-city-2030-says-perak-mb
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