Thailand will propose Bangkok, Phuket and Sri Racha as smart cities at the upcoming Asean Smart Cities Network (ASCN) meeting in August.
"As a tourist destination, Phuket can be an example of a smart city that uses innovation to promote and develop local tourism. Chonburi's Sri Racha will be a centre of innovation. As for Bangkok, we will develop Bang Sue station into a mobility hub. Despite different focus areas, these smart cities will share the same goal of protecting the environment," Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president of the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa), told media at a press conference.
A two-day ASCN Roundtable Meeting was held at Bitec Bangna in Bangkok and ended yesterday.
Representatives from 26 cities in Asean member countries joined the conference in drafting proposals that aim to use digital innovation to deal with urban population growth, improve public services, develop trade and protect the environment.
These proposals will be endorsed at the ASCN Conference and Exhibition to be held in Bangkok from Aug 22-24 this year.
Mary Wong Lai Lin, deputy secretary-general of Malaysia's Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing, and Local Government, insisted that collaboration can speed up the development of smart cities.
Malaysia, she said, has joined hands with South Korea on water management by adopting big data analytics to deal with irrigation from dams, solve leakages and provide system maintenance.
Thailand's Pichet Durrongkaveroj, Minister of Digital Economy and Society, said the development of smart cities can lay the basic infrastructure necessary for improving living standards and reducing income gaps. For example, the Ministry of Public Health has developed Mae Sot district in Tak province as a smart city for telemedicine.
"In addition, promoting e-commerce in rural areas means people won't have to go to Bangkok to find work," he said.