Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City has taken steps to digitally transform its infrastructure, according to a press release.
The city’s chairman, Nguyen Thanh Phong, has said that the smart city model is an initiative that the city has been working on for the past two years. It has recorded significant success in the first phase, which started in 2017 and will finish at the end of 2020.
The city has laid the groundwork for four main pillars of a smart city. These include a shared database and open data ecosystem, a smart city operating centre, a centre for socioeconomic forecasts and simulation, and a centre for information safety.
The shared database of the city has been put into operation at Quang Trung Software City in District 12. The database integrates data from the city’s agencies and departments, which cover multiple sectors, from foreign investment to public investment, education, healthcare and cadastre. The city has also launched a shared database portal.
The release noted that the smart city operating centre is located at the HCMC People’s Committee headquarters in District 1 and has been in operation since 15 April. The centre processes inputs from over 1,500 cameras from the camera systems of the departments of transport, health, education, and training and public security (also those run by various districts).
The centre for socioeconomic forecasts and simulation has been in operation since early June 2019 and will be expanded to other parts of the smart city plan from 2021.
For the information safety centre, the city government has approved the establishment of the HCMC Information Safety Center Operation JSC, which will be funded by both the public and private investors.
The chairman pointed out that compared with other localities, HCMC is favourably placed, with its facilities, infrastructure, technological innovation and human resources, to become the country’s leading smart city.
The city is preparing for the second phase of the smart city plan, which will run from 2021 to 2025. It has approved five smart city projects under the plan, with a total investment of more than VN 2.76 trillion (about US$ 117 million).
Notably, the city plans to establish a smart medical centre using artificial intelligence to connect doctors and experts at local hospitals with their counterparts at over 100 hospitals in 12 countries.
The city also recently launched an application that will help assess COVID-19 transmission risks.
As OpenGov reported earlier, the app will also help the Steering Board for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and relevant agencies monitor the situation.
The city has issued safety criteria for businesses in the fields of tourism, transport, food services, education, trading markets, supermarkets, and commercial centres. Other criteria for museums, relics, libraries, and sport service establishments have also been issued.