IPOH, Oct 3 — Perak is planning to set up a smart city in the Ipoh suburb of Meru Raya, a state official said today.
State communications, multimedia, non-governmental organisation and cooperatives development committee chairman Hasnul Zulkarnain Abd Munaim said Meru Raya could be developed to reach smart city status as it was already a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cyber Centre.
While no specific timeline has been set for the project, Hasnul said the government wanted to get the project started “very soon”.
“The infrastructure is already there, and we only need a bit of added value,” Hasnul told a press conference after officiating the Asia Pacific Digital Technology Symposium 2018 and International Digital Technology Exhibition 2018 at the Casuarina@Meru hotel here today.
He conceptualised a city where cellular technology would play a significant role in improving the residents' quality of life.
“The starting concept is to create a city that uses a large diverse scale of technology to create valuable results for all parties, including residents and businesses as well as local authorities and their visitors,” he told the crowd during his officiating speech.
“Maybe the smart city could refer to smart parking systems, cashless business transactions, and safe and easy lifestyles based on internet technology.”
With this in mind, Hasnul also invited companies focusing on digital technology to open their business headquarters or branches in Meru Raya.
On a related matter, Hasnul said the digital economy needed to play a larger role to realise its potential to help reduce poverty in the state, regardless of whether in urban or rural areas.
“For urban residents, the digital economy can be a primary or peripheral source of income. In rural areas, it can catalyse a change from survival income to a higher level of revenue.
“The skills to control e-entrepreneurship must be enhanced, by rapidly improving our existing digital entrepreneurship programmes under agencies like the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the Perak Development Corporation (PKNP).
