A policy to improve quality of life, lower social disparity and facilitate the "new normal" in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic has been approved, an official said.
The "smart city" policy steering committee has approved the proposal to pick four cities to implement the move, said Maj Gen Patchasak Patirupanont, spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, yesterday.
The locations are the Phaholyothin Transportation Centre in Bangkok, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project and Amata City Industrial Estate in Chon Buri and Muang district of Phuket, he said.
He was speaking after the first meeting of the committee at Government House. The meeting was chaired by Gen Prawit.
The committee agreed to appoint Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta as chairman of a subcommittee to manage the project, he said.
It also appointed the DES permanent secretary as national representative in the government's preparation for future regional cooperation on smart city development under an Asean framework, he said.
Gen Prawit stressed the need to speed up implementing the policy and assigned the DES, Energy and Transport Ministries to work on the task, Maj Gen Patchasak said.
"The policy is aimed at improving the quality of life of the people, lowering social disparity," Gen Prawit was quoted as saying at the meeting.