SRI LANKA: Urban Development Authority, MG Group of Companies and Good City Foundation Launched “Smart Gampaha City” Initiative Shaping Construction Principles for Net Zero Carbon City
JANUARY 2022 — in the collaboration with the conglomerate MG Group of Companies and Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka, the first smart city initiative of Sri Lanka “Smart Gampaha City” was launched in the witness of The Honourable Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Minister of Urban Development, Waste Disposal and Community Cleanliness.
“Smart Gampaha City” aggregates a consortium of policy entrepreneurs, urban planners and sustainable investment-savvy corporate leaders from Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka and construction conglomerate MG Group of Companies along with the Good City Foundation to deliver an advanced long-term territorial development framework and a set of key strategic development projects that target to renovate the urban form of Gampaha City to the objectives of Environmental Sustainability, Net Zero (Climate Adaptive) and Socially Inclusive Technology Governance.
Official Website of Smart Gampaha City: https://smartgampaha.uda.gov.lk/
With the primary goal of accommodating a planned growing populations in Gampaha City, the first key strategic development project includes smart Multimodal Transport Hub (MTH, 多式聯運樞紐), where citizen-centric digital public services of smart transport and mobility could be primarily provided to the public.(components including smart identity, point-to-point traffic notifications, digital payments and ticketing and others.) Sustainable and green transport development would extend to subsequent urban sectoral projects such as smart living (housing) and cloud-based digital public services (smart governance and people). The digital transformation in transportation planning and operation is empowered by the gradual development of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with Digital Twin Technologies Platform by phases.
The partnership and the establishment of the “Smart Gampaha City” initiative with the Smart Gampaha City Working Group is currently serving as a climate sustainability and urban resilience adaptation strategies transitional body to unconfirmed semi-governmental strategy and implementation body “Innovation and Investment Agency”. While the “Agency” targets to serve as sustainability implementation and global communication body with foreign institutions such as the World Bank IFC and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for sustainability financing cooperation, the body drives to set city-level sustainability goals in Net Zero, Growing Population-Friendly Liveability and Smart Citizenship by the next decade.
The “Smart Gampaha City” Initiative was first ideated with the Smart Gampaha City Working Group, co-curated by the Good City Foundation, Ministry of Urban Development, Waste Disposal and Community Cleanliness of Sri Lanka (appointed to Urban Development Authority) and MG Group of Companies.
For the first time in Sri Lanka, a small and medium sized city strives to set ambitious infrastructure-driven urban transformation sustainability goals.
The Working Group welcomes any inquiries or cooperations towards urban sustainability, reach us at: community@goodcityfoundation.org
