Analysts pose the question as urbanization proceeds at rapid rate Experts and insiders believe smart city solutions-based infor- mation and commu- nication technology can help China meet its urbanization challenges.mini storage But the real ques- tion is: “How to put that vision into action?”China is facing a “trilemma”— a dii cult choice from three options — on its way toward more urbanization, said Peter Lacy, managing director of Accenture Sustainability Ser- vices Asia-Pacii c, who sees smart cities as being the solu- tion for the challenges China is facing in terms of managing problems associated with it.“h e increasing population moving from rural areas to cities, the increasing con- sumption and expectation of citizens as they are getting wealthier and the increasing dii culties in managing the natural resources of energy, water and waste are going to haunt China for the next 30 years,” said Lacy.China is going through an unprecedented urbaniza- tion in human history, which has not only transformed the country into the second- largest economy in the world but also attracted more than half of its population to live in cities.On the one hand a city needs to grow economically.On the other it also needs to improve the quality of its people’s lives. Clearly cities are the key to achieve the balance, Lacy said, adding the most critical enabler is going to be smart technology, an idea that makes city management more ei cient via collecting and analyzing data.According to the report Smart 2020, published by Accenture Plc, deploying smart technologies in areas such as electricity grids, trans- port, logistics, buildings and industrial motors could save 15 percent of global emissions in 2020 and about $900 billion a year by then in energy sav- ings for global industry.“With the development of technology, it is cheaper and cheaper to put chips every- where and it is easier and eas- ier to collect data from chips,”said George h omas, a senior executive at IBM, which i rst developed the concept of smart cities in around 2009.“Because we are able to col- lect the data, dig into the data and analyze the data, we are able to answer questions bet- ter than before,” said h omas, who is in charge of smart city business in China.According to him, not only is it possible to predict traf- i c 60 minutes in advance by analyzing patterns from his- torical data, people can also ask questions, which they had never thought about asking before.“h is is part of the intel- ligence and it is really the cool part,” h omas said, adding that from IBM’s perspective, smart cities should use an intelligence network to make things better and improve people’s lives.With the ongoing urban- ization in China, cities will become bigger and more com- plicated in terms of manage- ment. McKinsey Co estimates that China will have 10 to 12 mega-cities with populations of 15 to 20 million, around which city clusters will form.A cluster consists of one mega-city and 20 to 50 other smaller cities. Most of the population will live in medi- um-sized cities with popula- tions of between 500,000 and 5 million, it added.It seems that the Chinese government has also reckoned that smart technology can help the country on its way toward urbanization. A list of 103 cities, districts, towns and industrial zones from Lhasa in Southwest China’s Tibetan Plateau to Shanghai in well- developed East China, have been earmarked recently by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to develop smart city pilot schemes.h e list released in early August is the second batch of smart city pilots in China.h e i rst batch of 90 pilots was published in January.Apart from the environ- mental and social challengeself storage brought by urbanization, the desire to i nd a new engine to drive the national economy amid recent slowing down is part of the reason for the Chinese government’s proac- tive measures to boost smart city development, said Liu Xu, a senior analyst of smart cities with CCID Consulting, an ai liated research orga- nization under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.“By integrating information and communication technol- ogy with the development and management of cities, the government hopes to bring the country’s economic and industrial development to the next level,” she said.However, it is easier said than done.“Smart city solutions are not as simple as having infor- mation technology. h ey are solutions that integrate many economic and social factors to ensure sustainable growth for cities and improve the living standards of urban residents,”Yin Zheng, senior vice-presi- dent of Schneider Electric in China, which began proceed- ing with smart city solutions by aggressively acquiring many leading IT solution pro- viders in 2011.“For example, we need to consider how to best work with governments and inves- tors, how to set appropriate prices for our services and who will enjoy and benei t from our services,” he said, adding that funding models are the key.However, Accenture’s Peter Lacy said the challenge on the money side will not af ect the development of smart cities in the long run. But to truly transform the large number of China’s smart pilots into real functional smart cities requires more than money.“h e real challenge is how to put the ambition into action. h ere’s still a big gap between rhetoric and reality,”Lacy said. He used the term “pilot paralysis”, meaning proj- ects get bogged down in the pilot stage.Liu said there are so many cities rushing to build smart projects but so few of them truly embed the available technology with a master plan for their cities’ development.“What’s more, a common standard of evaluating smart cities is much needed in order to achieve the sustainable development of the sector in China,” Liu said.Invitation for Prequali? cation1. The People’s Republic of China has received a loan (2709- PRC) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) towards the cost of Yunnan Integrated Road Network Development Project. Part of the loan proceeds will ? nance the Longling- Ruili road construction. The eligibility rules and procedures of ADB will govern the prequali? cation and the bidding process.2. Instrimpex International Tendering Company (the Procure- ment Agent), authorized by Yunnan LongRui Expressway Company Limited (the Employer), intends to prequalify eli- gible ? rms (contractors) for 5 Pavement Contracts under this project (Bid No: 0703-1320CIC5Y010).3. Interested applicants may obtain the Prequali? cation Document in English from the Procurement Agent or the Employer (address below) at working time from 27 September 2013 upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of RMB1000 (or US$150 or EUR120).4. Applications must be delivered to Trade Center of Yun- nan Province Public Resource (Address: No. 269, Kefa Road, Kunming, Yunnan) at or before 16:00 on 8 November 2013. Late applications will not be accepted.Procurement Agent: Instrimpex International Tendering Company (CNIITC) Address: Genertec Plaza, No.90, Xisanhuan Zhonglu, Beijing, China Tel: 86-10-63348310, 63348619, 63348944, Fax: 86-10-63373575 Attention: Mr. Ren Ju, Mr. Liao Zhong, Mr. Ye Zongping The Employer: Yunnan LongRui Expressway Company Limited Address: 3rd Floor, No.495, Minhang Road, Kunming, Yunnan, China Tel: 86-871-67164169, 86-692-2916927, 86-692-2916937, Fax: 86-871-67194685 Attention: Mr. He Jianguo, Mr. Yang Shunyou, Mr. Liu Shengrongmini storage
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