Shaikh Mohammad launches project to transform Dubai to a ‘Smart City’

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has announced a project to transform Dubai into a “Smart City,” linking the whole emirate’s government services and the public through the use of smart devices accessed freely using high-speed wireless Internet connections.

Shaikh Mohammad said the new integrated high-tech approach aims to use the latest advances in technology to create a model for providing government services that are easily accessible, quick, and efficient using smart devices.

Smart Cities’s main aim is to provide better connections and increase cooperation between the city and its citizens and residents. It promotes the use of government facilities using the largest possible number of smart applications.

“As a smart city, government departments will be inter-connected to provide faster services and information to all citizens and guests. We strive to create a new smart concept in running cities,” Shaikh Mohammad said.

“Through experience, we have learned that there is no one-model-fits-all for development. We strive to catalyse innovation and push the limits of using technology to benefit people,” Shaikh Mohammad said.

Through the project, high-speed wireless Internet connections will be provided in public locations for everyone to use. Smart sensors will be installed throughout the city to provide live information and services with the aim of providing all residents and visitors with a better quality of life.

The project’s main foundation is anchored on fibre optic networks that facilitate access to high-speed internet in main public areas of the city. Fibre optics are strands of very thin optically pure glass that carry digital information over long distances with extremely fast transfer speeds.

“Our goal is to improve the quality of life, as we aim harness technology for the establishment of a new reality in the city of Dubai, a different life, and a different development model. We want our services to reach every child, mother, youth, businessman, and tourist, to make a new quality life for all,” Shaikh Mohammad said.

Because of the available infrastructure for connectivity, every smartphone user will be able to access up-to-the-minute information on weather, traffic, entertainment, tourism, flights, dining, emergency services and much more, any time, anywhere. Businessmen and investors can also take advantage of the open access to smart services delivered by ports, customs and bourses.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has affirmed Shaikh Mohammad’s initiatives and projects related to technology and the Internet that have been launched over the past few years point to the fact that the emirate is headed towards a different city with unique services and a better life for all those living and visiting Dubai.

“We are marching ahead into the digital future. Dubai will be set to embrace all sorts of smart and interactive applications,” Shaikh Hamdan said.

He added that Dubai will become one of the biggest world laboratories for interactive and government applications. Through the project, the city of Dubai will connect every individual to the city in a seamless and efficient way. It will create a wide range of citizen-centred services that touches all aspects of everyday life, as per the directives by Shaikh Mohammad.

— with inputs from WAM