Dubai to transform into smart city

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al-Maktoum declared on Saturday a project that will transform Dubai into a Smart City, where government services will be accessible, quick and efficient, using hi-tech smart devices. UAE news agency (WAM) said that Al-Maktoum aims through such project to harness the technology to improve living conditions through new form of development, noting that the fibre optic network and high-speed wireless Internet will form the backbone of a new life in the city of Dubai. Al-Maktoum underlined that the project also intends to extend better services to children, youth, businesspersons and tourists to benefit from new form of quality life to all, adding that modern cities require new tools and innovations. The Smart City project will enable the public to transact with public departments using their own smart phones any time and any day of the year. Citizens and residents of Dubai will be the focus of the current project through providing advanced infrastructure for them and linking them with the city administration systems via high speed networks in public places. The project will also provide new information about the weather, traffic and transport, emergency and Education and Health smart services. For his part, Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum said the directives by Sheikh Mohammad called for immediate implementation of the project to complement the smart government project. Sheikh Hamdan noted that the population would be core of the current project through the provision of advanced infrastructure and the fibre optic network and high-speed wireless Internet. The Crown Prince said all the initiatives launched by Sheikh Mohammad over the last 10 years regarding the technology and the Internet, ushered in different services and new form of life in Dubai. He added that Dubai will become one of the biggest world laboratories for interactive and government applications. In October 2001, the government of Dubai began its online presence when it launched the e-Government program, linking government departments with their clients through the use of information and communication technology (ICT). The e-government system provided online portals for various government departments and enabled the public to transact with them online.