Entrepreneur Tony Verb is on a mission to promote technology that can help make cities greener and smarter in China's Greater Bay Area, now being shaped as a low-carbon megalopolis.
Hong Kong-based Mr Verb, co-founder of investment firm GreaterBay Ventures & Advisors, plans to back urban tech businesses working on autonomous e-vehicles, flying taxis, artificial intelligence, robotics and clean energy.
He is betting on China’s master plan to develop the Pearl River Delta into a sustainable innovation hub, which he believes will serve as "a great case study" for the world's cities.
In February, Beijing announced it would foster links between nine cities in Guangdong and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau to forge the world’s biggest urban area with 70 million people.
Under the Greater Bay Area (GBA) plan, each city has a different role but the blueprint is centred on developing the delta in a high-tech way that also conserves its ecology.
The strategy comes as China exits an era of breakneck growth when planning and finance for infrastructure were overlooked, said Witman Hung, Hong Kong deputy to China's 13th National People’s Congress.
Travel Sentry founder John Vermilye remembered visiting factories in the delta in 2003, and seeing plastic pellets flowing into sewage drains and workers in flip-flops carrying pots of molten zinc from the furnace to moulding machines.
“Sixteen years ago, we were telling businesses how to be sustainable and what changes they needed to make - but now they're getting this from the government directly,” said Mr Vermilye, whose firm develops luggage security standards.
Marred by smog, dirty soil and contaminated water, China - the world’s biggest energy user and greenhouse gas emitter - decided development had to respect and protect its environment.
Leaders introduced “ecological civilisation” as a constitutional goal in 2012, said Christine Loh, chief development strategist at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
In 2014, Beijing declared war on pollution, introducing environmental laws and inspectors who swept through businesses.
It then launched “Made in China 2025”, cementing a move away from the world’s factory floor to innovation-led growth.
While Hong Kongers may be divided about closer political and legal ties with the mainland, the GBA is already an economic powerhouse attracting many start-ups.
Its gross domestic product is $1.6 trillion, similar to Tokyo Bay, and leaders want it to rival Silicon Valley in the US.
Shenzhen is home to tech heavyweights such as Tencent and Huawei. It is also one of China’s three sustainable development zones, tasked with serving as a technology testbed for green solutions in sectors including waste and environmental restoration.
The coastal megacity of 12.5 million people helps the bay lead the way in electric vehicles and low-carbon transit.
“All over the delta, you are seeing the gradual rollout of e-buses, e-vans and e-taxis,” said Ms Loh.
That came after Beijing started giving subsidies for electric transport, buoying home-grown e-vehicle maker BYD.
Shenzhen now has 16,000 e-buses plying its streets, a world first, and by the end of 2018, it also had 20,000 e-taxis, news agency Xinhua reported.
Meanwhile, electric trains whizz around the delta. Hong Kong’s MTR alone moves 5.76 million passengers each weekday in a city of 7.4 million. This year authorities linked up Hong Kong to the mainland’s express rail link, slashing commuting times.
With Beijing’s target to cut energy consumed per GDP unit by 3 per cent this year, bay officials are also pushing green construction and the use of data and technology, Mr Hung said.
“Every time there’s a new building, every time a power plant is being built or modified, you have to meet such rules,” he added.
Siu Hung Chan, managing director of power company CLP’s China business, said data analytics and machine-learning are fostering smart cities in the delta.
Shenzhen uses street cameras and apps to direct drivers to carparks and uncongested roads, while Cisco is building a “model smart city” in Guangzhou’s Panyu district.
Still, the bay’s history as the world’s workshop and site of three of its 10 busiest ports means the challenge is big.
“While the industries are gone, the rivers are still there and the pollution is still there," said Mr Hung.
The GBA sits in the Indo-Burma hotspot, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas but also one of its most threatened. When Shenzhen’s mayor took office in 2017, his first priority was taking care of the black, smelly river water, Mr Hung said.
Now there is a “river chief system”, led by the mayor who is personally in charge of several rivers, while almost 100 officials have been assigned to look after others.
“It becomes their personal responsibility to make sure the river becomes clean again,” said Mr Hung.
With the delta spanning three administrative areas, there have been cross-border efforts to clean up the air but it often falls short of World Health Organisation standards.
Another part of the GBA plan is to protect wetlands, forests, coastlines and marine ecosystems.
A group of Hongkongers, led by local foundation AquaMeridian and the Canadian International School, have nominated the city’s southern waters to be protected under a conservation campaign run by non-profit Mission Blue.
As the planet warms, many studies deem the region at high risk of floods and landslides, but there are also opportunities to plan better for those threats, said Ms Loh.
With the population seen growing to 100 million by 2030, according to Savills, the delta is testing “sponge cities” where landscapes and underground tanks absorb and store rainwater.
Weather chiefs from the three administrations are also exploring how AI and data can improve forecasts, while AI is being used to predict landslides.
HKUST, meanwhile, uses drones to sniff emissions from ships to see if they have switched to cleaner fuel.
Ms Loh is hopeful of a greener future for the GBA, noting the low-carbon development plan enjoys top-level political support, with Hong Kong playing a key role in financing green projects.
“China is speed-fighting pollution," she said.
Reuters
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Star%20Wars%3A%20Ahsoka%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Various%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rosario%20Dawson%2C%20Natasha%20Liu%20Bordizzo%2C%20Lars%20Mikkelsen%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
HAJJAN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Abu%20Bakr%20Shawky%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3EStarring%3A%20Omar%20Alatawi%2C%20Tulin%20Essam%2C%20Ibrahim%20Al-Hasawi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
UAE%20set%20for%20Scotland%20series
%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20will%20host%20Scotland%20for%20a%20three-match%20T20I%20series%20at%20the%20Dubai%20International%20Stadium%20next%20month.%3Cbr%3EThe%20two%20sides%20will%20start%20their%20Cricket%20World%20Cup%20League%202%20campaigns%20with%20a%20tri-series%20also%20involving%20Canada%2C%20starting%20on%20January%2029.%3Cbr%3EThat%20series%20will%20be%20followed%20by%20a%20bilateral%20T20%20series%20on%20March%2011%2C%2013%20and%2014.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Could%20We%20Be%20More
%3Cp%3EArtist%3A%20Kokoroko%3Cbr%3ELabel%3A%20Brownswood%20Recordings%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
FIXTURES
New Zealand v France, second Test
Saturday, 12.35pm (UAE)
Auckland, New Zealand
South Africa v Wales
Sunday, 12.40am (UAE), San Juan, Argentina
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 drivers' standings
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 281
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 222
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 177
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 138
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 93
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 86
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 56
Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Short-term let permits explained
Homeowners and tenants are allowed to list their properties for rental by registering through the Dubai Tourism website to obtain a permit.
Tenants also require a letter of no objection from their landlord before being allowed to list the property.
There is a cost of Dh1,590 before starting the process, with an additional licence fee of Dh300 per bedroom being rented in your home for the duration of the rental, which ranges from three months to a year.
Anyone hoping to list a property for rental must also provide a copy of their title deeds and Ejari, as well as their Emirates ID.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Killing of Qassem Suleimani