LAHORE: The Punjab government has launched a pilot project of ‘Smart City Lahore’ to improve urban life through better transport solutions and intelligent use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The project will also improve economic growth and quality of life by enabling local area development through smart applications.

The key objectives which needs to be addressed, firstly, efficiency of services, to optimise the use of public resources and provide a high level of citizen service, secondly, sustainability, to grow and develop the city with strong consideration to environmental impact, thirdly, mobility, to make it easy for citizens, workers and visitors to move around in the city, whether by foot, bike, car, public transport, fourthly, safety and security, to improve public safety and security in every-day life and at special events, fifthly, healthcare, to improve the quality of health services by bridging the gap between citizens and healthcare services through fully integrated healthcare systems, sixthly, utilities, by digitising the energy sector, making best use of water in agriculture and residential areas, the Smart City project document reads.

Punjab Safe City Authority Chief Operating Officer Kamran Khan told Dawn that the government had accorded approval to Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL) to launch a pilot project on MM Alam Road and Liberty Market parking.

Plan aims at improving urban life thru better transport solutions, use of ICTs

He said the authorities had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nokia at Expo 2020 in Dubai because it had completed a smart city project in Cyprus.

He said Nokia had started a free of cost pilot project on MM Alam Road and would install sensors for management of street lights, waste collection, traffic, environment and parking spaces.

Mr Khan said traffic monitoring would enable effective management and remote monitoring of traffic at points of interest, allowing city officials to gain insight concerning road use such as traffic congestions and peak times, thus allowing for dynamic rerouting and offering real-time traffic status to drivers.

He said waste collection management would provide real-time monitoring, fill level alerts and predictive analytics to enable decision making ahead of time.

He said the technology would also enable remote management of gas and water meters in real time providing consumption analytics, leakage detection alerts and notifications to utilities and home users when consumption would exceed.

He said a number of departments would be involved in the project and the city mayor or administrator would have to head while adding traffic was managed by police, cleanliness by waste management authority, and streetlights by MCL, district administration and LDA, and air quality by the environment department.

“Pilot project was initially started to measure the challenge of the project for the whole city and will be checked whether it can be started at once or phase wise,” he said.

Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department (LG&CD) will sponsor the project.

Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), LG&CD, commissioner/administrator and chief officer MCL Lahore for Civil Structure of Command and Control Centre will execute while PITB, LG&CD and commissioner will do operations and maintenance.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2022