New Kuching smart city master plan to ensure better public services, says Sarawak CM

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg speaking at the launch of the Kuching smart city master plan.

KUCHING: The new Kuching smart city master plan will serve to connect citizens with the government and enable the provision of better services, says Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

The Chief Minister said the plan, developed by the Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), was a platform for data sharing on issues such as urban safety and public complaints.

He said the master plan would also allow Kuching to be connected to other smart cities such as Miri, where a pilot project had been carried out.

"This exercise involves citizens so a lot of engagement was done to find solutions.

"I hope this master plan will trigger our economic development and the services that we give to our citizens," he said when launching the plan here on Tuesday (Oct 5).

For a start, Abang Johari said the new Darul Hana residential development here would be connected to the master plan platform, before being expanded to other areas such as Padawan and Samarahan.

"We want to transform Kuching and other cities in Sarawak," he said.

SMA general manager Zaidi Razak said the master plan identified 38 smart city initiatives in five focus areas of economic growth, smart living, clean environment, digital government and digital infrastructure.

The initiatives will be strategised for implementation from this year until 2025.

"With the eventual implementation of the comprehensive Kuching smart city master plan, we intend to create a stable, resilient and sustainable operating platform for replication in other towns of Sarawak," he said.

Zaidi said a key concept in the master plan was the smart city operating system, which would enable service providers to participate in the innovation of city services through a core digital infrastructure platform and shared applications.

"Government agencies, the private sector and community can then package and deliver their services and products using the shared smart city applications.

"They can package new functions into their own end-user applications, such as digital health, smart transportation and smart tourism applications," he said.