Preparing Ipoh to be Smart Regional City by 2030

Rumaizi: New plan prioritises sustainable ecosystem and shaping a prosperous society.

Ipoh City Council (MBI) wants to see Ipoh become a Smart Regional City by 2030.

Ipoh mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin said the city council had made it its mission to empower city management, encourage inclusivity towards becoming a smart city, with low-carbon emissions and a prosperous society.

Rumaizi said all these were included in its Strategic Planning Plan 2021-2030 that was based on the National Sustainable Development Goals policy.

“The plan is based on five core policies – shaping a prosperous society, improving public infrastructure and facilities, environmental sustainability, empowering a resilient economy and strengthening a competent management,” he said during a special assembly for city council staff at Ipoh Convention Centre.

“The city council has formulated 13 action plans and frameworks and conducted studies with local universities to support the plan.”

The assembly was attended by about 1,500 people in conjunction with the city’s 36th anniversary celebration.

Rumaizi said when the Perak Sejahtera Plan was launched by the state government in 2022, one of the flagship programmes was for Ipoh to become a Doughnut Economics City by 2027.

The Doughnut Economics concept is a framework for sustainable development that integrates environmental boundaries with complementary social and economic well-being concepts.

Among the environmental boundaries are climate change, land conversion, pollution, ozone-layer depletion and biodiversity loss, while social and economic concepts include gender equality, health and housing.

He said Ipoh, being strategically located between Penang and Kuala Lumpur, offered vast opportunities with its unique history and planned development.

“Ipoh has green surroundings, former mining pools and majestic limestone hills.

“Ipoh is also a cultural heritage city that best symbolises Malaysia,” he said.

In conjunction with the city’s anniversary, Rumaizi said the city council had prepared 21 programmes to celebrate the occasion.

These, he said, included a massive gotong-royong, bowling competition, colouring contest, cleanest toilet contest, best eatery contest and sports competitions.