Phuket gears up to be "Smart City" by 2020

PHUKET, THAILAND, August 1 (TNA) - Measures have been launched to develop Thailand's southern Phuket Province to be a "Smart City" by 2020, when modern digital technology would be fully utilised for the management of the globally-renowned Andaman resort city. Phuket Deputy Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul told journalists on July 31 that his province has already received the first lot of a state budget of over 300 million baht to be used to first develop three areas, including the local economy, education and security, paving the way for turning his province to be a "Smart City" by 2020 as targeted. Prajiad noted that the "Smart City" project was initiated by the Thai government, through the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), in 2003 to utilise the digital technology to move forward the provincial development. Prajiad said the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA), under the ICT Ministry, has set up a task force to oversee the development of the local ecological system as part of the promotion of the local digital economy, chaired by the deputy governor and guided by the provincial governor. Besides, the task force is in charge of exploring all approaches to realise the project on turning Phuket into a "Smart City" in due course. Meanwhile, Phuket's SIPA chief Pracha Asawatheera acknowledged that a total of seven areas will be developed to turn the southern resort province to be a "Smart City", including local economy, education, environment, public management, health, security and tourism. In the short run, Pracha revealed, the general public would be able to access to the local WiFi system unlimitedly within this year via private investment. (TNA)