Zhuhai among China's cutting-edge 'smart' cities

The Smart Zhuhai Cloud Computing Center recently passed an expert acceptance check before being rolled out across the city, according to developer Guangdong Chengzhi Technology.

The center supports Zhuhai Smart City Program construction and provides information technology infrastructure services for the government.

When completed, the project will provide integrated planning, plus construction and management for government offices and non-profit organizations to reduce overlapping expenditures in IT infrastructure.

Some 14 government departments have already registered for 18 systems at the center, which is functioning well so far, according to a project leader.

Zhuhai Smart City project series rolling out [File Photo]

The entire center is to be constructed in phases to meet the overall development needs of Zhuhai and other cities on the west bank of the Pearl River over the next decade.

Other smart projects are the Smart Zhuhai Comprehensive Service Platform, Underground Pipelines General Survey & Information Management System, and Smart Traffic Management. They all passed preliminary acceptance checks and came into trial operation by last month.

Smart Community program and Monitoring Platform for Building Energy Consumption are expected to be operational in the third quarter of this year. Moreover, Smart Traffic Signal Coordination Control System is to be finished by year's end.

A state-owned enterprise established in 2014, Zhuhai-based Guangdong Chengzhi Technology is a subsidiary of Zhuhai Urban Construction Group Co Ltd and is dedicated to financing, constructing, and operating "Smart Zhuhai" projects.

The company has launched construction of Zhuhai's Big Data Center and Big Data Industrial Park, which consists of large computer rooms with a floor space of 52,000 sq m, according to a company executive. He expressed confidence that the Smart City Program would surprise locals with its future intelligent traits.

Zhuhai is gradually taking on a "smart" look while continuously benefiting its people with great convenience since the Smart City Program was initiated in 2013.

The 2014 Evaluation Index Report on Smart City People-Benefiting Development in China, the first of its kind in the country, was released in January 2015 with Zhuhai ranked at sixth place. The city again proved its overall strength by taking seventh place among 151 cities, and second among prefecture-level cities at the 2015 Report on the Assessment of Smart City Development Level jointly released by Center for Informatization Study (CIS) of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Beijing Govmade Information Consulting Co Ltd. Zhuhai was on the selection list of the top 50 smart cities conducted by both organizations in November 2016.