By Diana Muriuki
It may have escaped public attention when last year, global l ICT giant Huawei confirmed the introduction of a $1.5 billion (Sh10.5 trillion) global financing to fuel the development of smart city infrastructure – with specific attention to increasing activity in Africa.
According to Huawei, the financing will be directed towards supporting African governments and smart city builders construct systems for critical communications and Intelligent Video Surveillance.
The development comes at a time when safe city programmes are now a top priority for governments across Africa.
However, budget constraints remain the biggest challenge thus impacting on efforts to intensify smart city initiatives.
So why the huge interest and big money being channeled towards smart cities?
For starters, Wikipedia describes a smart as a city that incorporates information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance the quality and performance of urban services such as energy, transportation and utilities in order to reduce resource consumption, wastage and overall costs.
The overarching aim of a smart city is to enhance the quality of living for its citizens through smart technology
Experts allude to the fact that the fundamental aspect of a smart city is not the number of sensors or devices it contains, but rather the use of technology that enables city planners and other government bodies to reduce the stress on a city’s infrastructure and unlock a better standard of living for its citizens.
Be it an automated management system, digital government services, digital sourcing of information, mobile apps or the possibility of connecting with government officials via social media platforms, in smart cities citizens leverage technology to improve everyday processes…Read more>>
