In April 2021, Chief Minister YAB Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg launched the Smart City Concept in Miri.
This in turn makes the city in northern Sarawak a test-bed for the Sarawak Government to determine the effectiveness of utilising digital technology to deliver services to the people of Miri.
If proven successful, the Government will expand the concept first to other major urban areas such as Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu within a few years, followed by the rest of Sarawak by 2030.
Leading the implementation is Miri City Council (MCC), and together with Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) is undertaking various smart city programmes under the concept.
They include Safe City; Digital Signages; Safe Parks; Miri Smart City Command Centre; Smart Bus; Smart Truck; Smart Drain; Miri Smart City mobile application; Smart Tourism; and e-Local Government (eLA2).
In an interview with RAKAN Sarawak, MCC mayor YBhg Mayor Adam Yii highlighted a few smart city initiatives in detail as part of the council’s innovations and achievements over the past couple of years:
Smart Parking Borneo Mobile Application
The Smart Parking Borneo mobile application was launched in January 2020, making Miri the first city in Sarawak to deploy a smart parking system.
The app has brought great convenience to users in that its cashless feature and mobile accessibility allow them to book their parking space and extend their parking time through their mobile devices.
This means that, unlike before where they needed to return to their parked vehicle to add a new parking coupon, users can now top-up their parking fee wherever they are.
“Regarding the time slot, it’s 15 minutes as compare to the traditional coupon parking, (in which) the basic timeslot is 30 minutes. We have changed that using the mobile parking app to 15 minutes, so this is more advantageous to the user,” said Mayor Yii.
He added that the app was welcomed overwhelmingly by the public in Miri. As of 2 September 2021, there are over 47,000 downloads of the smart parking app.
Miri CARES
Miri CARES is a flagship feature within the Miri Smart City mobile application, which is a key initiative under the Miri Smart City Concept.
Miri CARES serves as an interface between MCC and the Miri public, and is designed to be as user-friendly as possible for the public to lodge complaints about services provided by MCC.
Once they do so, their cases will be given reference numbers and routed to the relevant government agencies or departments for further action.
Complainants will be given two notifications: the first when their complaints have been received and the second after their cases are solved.
Miri CARES enables MCC to collect data and information that will then be analysed and utilised towards better future planning, but most importantly solutions to problems affecting their services which can lead to improved service delivery.
“This data is very important because it gives the council an idea what are the most common complaints. In other words, what are the most common problems that we are facing,” explained Mayor Yii.
Miri Smart City Command Centre
The command centre is deemed the ‘nerve centre’ of the Miri Smart City Concept, and is connected to the State-wide smart city command centre in Kuching.
It comprises an integrated system that runs and manages various council service operations such as real-time monitoring, and enhances service delivery efficiency.
The centre will enable MCC to manage the safety and surveillance of selected parks and areas of Miri City; at the same time host smart solutions for the city’s municipal operations.
Currently situated on the first floor of the present MCC office, the command centre will be relocated to Level Three of the upcoming Miri City Hall.
According to Mayor Yii, the unique, barrel-shaped 19-storey city hall that began construction in June 2019 is projected to be completed by mid-October 2021.
