WHILE the Government is responsible for formulating policies as well as facilitating the formation of a smart city, it cannot achieve success on its own, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said.
“The commercial and business parts must be filled by the technology providers. The Government is not in the business of doing business, but we facilitate so that the business sector can use the opportunity to provide suggestions to the Government.
“We welcome technology providers to submit their proposals. We can look at how we can collaborate and work together with the private sector and providers to drive certain projects and initiatives.
“The Government plays an important role to facilitate the process together with the industry. We will be able to realise this with the right platform, publicity, and community empowerment,” Chow said during a virtual interview by Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) and Confexhub today.
MIGHT senior principal analyst I Zulkifflee Mohamad said MIGHT was collaborating with Confexhub to produce the Malaysia Smart City Outlook 2021-2022 report.
“We are getting insights from state leaders on smart cities. We will look at technology elements in forming smart cities and our cities’ competitiveness against the global achievements,” Zulkifflee said during the 45-minute interview.
Zulkifflee said that smart city is now a global trend.
“More people will be living in cities by 2050. According to a research, the global smart city market is expected to grow from USD410 billion in 2020 to over USD820.7 billion by 2025.
“Smart city technology can improve the quality of life between 10 and 30 percent,” he said.
Confexhub fellow academy of science Prof Ahmad Ibrahim said Penang is doing very well in terms of smart city components.
Also present was interviewer Dina Fuad.
Chow said the state government hoped to lay a stronger foundation to bring Penang to greater heights by being committed to its Penang2030 vision ‘A Family-Focused Green and Smart State that Inspires the Nation’.
“The smart city initiative is a very important component for Penang. We have embarked in such initiatives even before I become the Penang Chief Minister,” he said, highlighting formation of the state local government’s smart delivery unit.
Chow said that the state had launched the cashless initiative pilot project in public markets.
“We have 55 public markets in Penang. We have collaborated with 17 banking institutions and non-bank e-money issuers to help the public markets migrate to e-payment since April last year.
“Now, we have the support of 1,507 merchants in public markets who have adopted e-payment.
“Many people are fearful to go onboard the e-payment platform, but once they are onboard it is easy,” he said.
Chow urged the people to stay positive and embrace technology.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud