Vietnam eyes to develop domestically- and globally-connected smart cities
A symposium on the development of domestically- and globally-connected smart cities took place in Hanoi on June 16.
The event, which was one of four seminars in the framework of the ongoing Vietnam Sustainable Urban Development Forum 2022, was jointly organized by the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission, the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies.
Indonesia focuses on accelerating digital transformation in four sectors
Indonesia endeavors to expedite the national digital transformation agenda through four strategic sectors, stated Mira Tayyiba, Communication and Informatics Ministry's Secretary General, reported the local news agency Antara.
According to the official, these four strategic sectors comprise digital infrastructure, digital governance, digital economy, and digital citizenship. The government strives to provide 4G network that can cover 83,218 villages in 2022.
NG: ‘Technology key to Lagos Smart City project’
The Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Hakeem Fahm has said technology has a very critical role to play in the state government’s plan to transform the state into a smart city and make the economy 21st century compliant is fully on course.
Fahm said the on-going laying of 3,000 km fibre metro network cables and broadband infrastructure across the state is part of the comprehensive Smart City programme of the government aimed at driving Lagos into a 24-hour economy, adding that technology is key to the project.
Does Africa need smart cities?
City life in Africa is a unique case study. It’s one of those areas where we often see sky-high optimism among its observers in the face of outright chaos. You’d be curious how a researcher studies Africa and concludes that it will have the world’s largest cities by 2100. But there might be arguments to support that.
A paper claims the urban growth rate in Africa is the fastest globally. Others even project that Africa will be the only continent experiencing population growth by the end of this century, and 13 of the 20 largest urban areas will be in Africa. All these savoury forecasts are coming while the continent has only two cities on that list. And it’s okay to either believe them or not. But an interesting emerging pattern is that people are beginning to build new cities in Africa. Well, not just cities – ‘smart’ cities.
KE: Serving vulnerable communities raises stakes for public sector digital transformation
The ongoing damaging impact of the pandemic combined with a growing number of climate-related emergencies is bringing into stark relief government’s ability to provide essential public services to vulnerable communities.
I recently visited the province of my birth, KwaZulu-Natal following the devastating floods. The desperation of the people and scale of the disaster has seen tens of thousands of displaced citizens turning to government to provide a broad range of relief measures, while damage to critical infrastructure including water supplies has prompted the President to declare a national state of disaster.