Melaka wants to be a smart city, says exco

Malacca exco Kerk Chee Yee wants the people to ‘imagine beyond their imagination’. (Bernama pic)

MELAKA: Melaka aims to be a smart city, providing a tech-savvy population with a more efficient and safer environment.

Communications, Multimedia, NGO, Youth and Sports Committee chairman Kerk Chee Yee said he wants the people to “imagine beyond their imagination” as Melaka embarks on its plan to be a smart city.

Kerk said transforming Melaka into a smart city may not generate direct revenue for the government or people as a whole in the short term.

However, there are reasons “bigger and far more important than revenue” that should be taken into consideration.

“Moving towards a smart city means becoming a more efficient and tech-savvy population in a safer environment.

“It means finding better crime deterrents, traffic management, disaster response time and also potentially life-saving solutions, better economic growth and greater happiness,” he told Bernama.

Kerk said he was impressed with the cellular connectivity in Taiwan both in terms of speed and coverage.

He emphasised the need for high-speed Internet to be a smart city, saying fiberisation needs to be carried out despite its high costs.

“Fiberisation is an important milestone not only for faster internet speed or cellular connectivity, it is also the foundation to technology such as Big Data, 5G, Cloud, Internet of Things and many others,” he said. - FMT