MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) - Today, it is important to develop the smart sustainable city methodology and structure, Director of OAO Giprosvyaz Andrei Karaim said at the forum “Smart Sustainable Cities: Organizational and Technical Aspects of Development” in Minsk on 16 March, BelTA has learned.
"It has become a good tradition to hold such an event as the Smart Cities Forum every spring. Development of smart sustainable cities is important the world and for Belarus. Not only individual solutions, which we have implemented in our country for many years, are important. Equally vital are uniform requirements, methodology and structure of a smart sustainable city," Andrei Karaim said.
A lot has been done in Belarus on this front in recent years. In 2019, a model smart city concept was drafted. It was then adapted to suit the needs of the city of Orsha and Orsha District and the roadmap was finalized. Last year, the model concept was tailored to the needs of other potential centers of economic growth of Belarus: Baranovichi, Minsk, Pinsk, Novopolotsk, Bobruisk, and others.
The project "Smart Cities of Belarus" will be implemented as part of the state program "Digital Development of Belarus" for 2021-2025. "Events such as this forum are very useful for the best-quality implementation of this project. It gives us an opportunity to gain new knowledge, share experience and look for best decision-making in the future," the director added.
“The ITU forum dedicated to smart and sustainable cities is more relevant than ever. Smart city is on the agenda of many operators, including Beltelecom,” Director General of Beltelecom Yuri Petruchenya said. “In 2020, we completed the installation of fiber optic cable to all settlements of 100 households and more. With regard settlements of 50 households and more, 56% of them have access to fiber optic lines of communication. With this infrastructure in place, we will be able to get down to work on some fragments of the smart city concept.”
Belarus has made the most progress in three main areas of the smart city concept. "First of all, it is smart home. At the moment, the subscriber base is about 60,000. We see a keen interest on the part of our customers and are developing this service. Secondly, it is video monitoring service. Today, the total number of installed video cameras is about 35,000 and the number of customers totals 65,000. These are both individuals and legal entities,” Yuri Petruchenya noted. “Another area is the mobility of communication. We have launched the My City project in Polotsk. The mobile application offers an one-stop-shop platform for interaction with all organizations and infrastructure operators in the region."
A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) forum “Smart Sustainable Cities: Organizational and Technical Aspects of Development” is running in Minsk on 16-18 March. The forum has been organized by the ITU jointly with Giprosvyaz and the Communications and Informatization Ministry of Belarus. Taking part in the event are representatives of the ITU, government, regional authorities and also major institutions of science and education. Speakers from Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, experts from the Green Cities Project, UNDP, specialists of Belarus' major companies will share the practical experience and suggest ways of building a smart sustainable city.
The program of the forum includes a wide range of thematic reports of international experts in such areas as organizational and technical aspects of smart sustainable cities development. The objectives of the forum are to introduce Belarusian specialists to the latest global achievements in smart sustainable city construction implemented under the auspices of the ITU, and to consider the proposals of the ITU member countries in the region to unify approaches on this front. Another goal of the forum is to determine the area and procedure for interaction between state and commercial structures in the joint implementation of smart city solutions.
The forum will also include a meeting of the regional group of the ITU-T study group 20 for Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Transcaucasia.
