Dubai’s dream of becoming an integrated smart city moved a step closer yesterday with the emirate’s Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) announcing plans to build a pilot-scale project in the planned Silicon Park.
The Centre of Excellence for Smart Habitat (Cesh) will be built in the planned Dh1.1 billion, 150,000 square metre Silicon Park smart city, itself a part of the Dubai Silicon Oasis technology park.
DSOA, the regulatory body, said that Cesh would be designed as a fully functioning smart city and was due to open in the fourth quarter of 2017, along with the official opening of Silicon Park.
“It will function like a city, but on a small scale,” said Muammar Al Katheeri, the chairman of DSOA Smart City. “We are getting some contractors to enable our work to start. We are working to create a centre of excellence for smart habitat to educate people. It will be a platform where we can share knowledge with our partners and create a Dubai model that we can replicate in other areas.”
DSOA will be working with private and public sector organisations to integrate their services into the centre of excellence.
Cesh will also test a “drone for the good” system which monitors the environment and provides feedback to the city to provide real-time information to residents and authorities.
For example, inhabitants will be able to know when a sandstorm is due and when to avoid certain areas at specific times.
“We are starting to build a smart community, which will be more efficient, more secure and will give better productivity,” said Ghanim Al Falasi, the vice chairman of DSOA Smart City. “It is not about competing and winning a race – it is a holistic approach about integrating people together.”
Investment in smart city projects has been on the rise in the GCC, where 88 per cent of the population will be urbanised by 2025, according to the consultancy PwC.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are at the forefront of smart city development in the region.
“Dubai has the good seeds to be way up there with competitive smart cities like Singapore and Amsterdam,” said Hazem Galal, a partner in the cities and local government sector at PwC. “It has taken some good steps and initiatives by taking these ideas and testing and prototyping them in a limited environment before taking them to a larger scale.”
thamid@thenational.ae
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