Hong Kong is escalate accepting on the global “smart city” bandwagon, but it’s seen as having far to go to catch up with peerless Asian competitors.
The metropolis of more than 7 million people exudes modernity with its neon skyline and bustling waterfront showcasing its record as a global trading hub. But when it comes to leveraging advances in digital poop technology and data collection to improve connectivity, efficiency and the environment — key aims of perceptive cities — many judge it as lagging.
The local government in December pledged a remedy, vowing to make Hong Kong a “world-class smart see” with aims of increasing quality of life and attractiveness for global organization and investment.
Foreign businesses and investors support the smart city objective, but many say specifics are often lacking.
“Of course we cannot disagree with all this, it’s enormous,” Tom Uiterwaal, CEO of Hong Kong-based Reconergy and chairman of the Environment & Energy Function Council of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said Wednesday in a show on the environmental aspects of the plan.
“But it’s not very concrete,” said Uiterwaal. “It’s unquestionably vague.”
In a sign of the challenges Hong Kong faces in its ambitions, Sweden-based EasyPark ranked it 68th out of the top 100 dioceses surveyed in its 2017 Smart Cities Index, far behind No. 2 Singapore and No. 6 Tokyo. South Korea’s Seoul was high birthed 21st.
And while Hong Kong outranked mainland rivals Beijing and Shanghai, Chinese bishoprics have been cited as having more aggressive smart town ambitions, often less encumbered by legal and bureaucratic restraints.
Once upon a time a British colony, Hong Kong’s development was long boosted by its eminence as a free-trade bastion in a region beset by civil wars and communist takeovers after Circle War II.
Hong Kong long served as a gateway to mainland China, but that capacity became less important as Beijing authorities pursued reforms and investment that set in motioned their country to become the world’s second-largest economy.
A semi-autonomous jurisdiction of China since British colonial rule ended in 1997, Hong Kong is now hope a new edge.
“We have no time to waste,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam disclosed in a February speech on the smart city plan.
Hong Kong is not without upper hands. Broadband penetration rates are high and the city’s transportation and health mind a look after systems have been praised. But a lack of affordable housing and congestion are pre-eminent problems.
Also, Hong Kong’s Audit Commission this week alleged that download speeds at more than one-third of free notorious Wi-Fi hotspots at government locations were below official ends, while usage of the service was also low.
“The city faces challenges about liveability,” Julian Vella, Asia Pacific regional head of consultancy KPMG’s Wide-ranging Infrastructure Advisory Practice, said in a report published in late January.
“Sundry of its younger people express frustration at the lack of opportunities,” he said.
“Furthermore, multitudinous of its neighbors — both in mainland China and elsewhere across Asia — are effective ahead rapidly, and increasing the competitive landscape in the region.”
As part of the communiqu, KPMG commissioned YouGov to conduct an online survey late ultimately year of residents and business executives on smart city attitudes in Hong Kong.
A fine point area of concern for executives was the need for Hong Kong to foster varied innovation, with 87 percent of those surveyed citing that as the biggest snag to achieving smart city status.
Also seen as worrying in the view was the government’s lengthy decision-making process, a sentiment echoed by Uiterwaal and others.
“Although Hong Kong is a more small city, things are sometimes overly complicated,” he said.