Da Nang (VNA) - The central city ofDa Nang and FPT, a Vietnamese software giant, inked on April 19 a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) on building Da Nang as a ‘smart city’ for the 2018-20period.

The MoU will help the city develop smartsolutions in traffic, agriculture, English language training, health care andtourism.

The two sides also agreed to completeonline service in traffic and agriculture to boost connection between thecity’s administration and local residents, as well as to promote transparencyin administrative procedure.

As planned, FPT will invest 15 billion VND (664,000USD) to build pilot projects with smart applications in 2018-19.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee, Ho Ky Minh, said the MoU would help Da Nang improve administrativereform and transparency for local people, businesses and tourists, and build DaNang as a ‘liveable’ city in the near future.

He said the city’s e-government system,which was launched in 2014, had been used by 225 agencies and 4,000 users.About 50 percent of public procedures were also posted online.

He said Da Nang’s IT infrastructure was nowavailable for smart connections among air control, water, garbage, meteorology,and energy agencies. It could also provide earthquake and tsunami warnings, anddata on flooding, erosion, sewage management, and bridges.

The city will be ready for 4G LTE(Long-Term Evolution) this year.

Free wireless internet (wifi) services,with a maximum of 20,000 connections, was also offered for local residents andtourists at major centres and streets in the city, including living quarters,tourist sites, schools, beaches, hospitals, and shopping malls, alongside bus and railway stations, airports andentertainment centres.

The central city had provided 1,196 onlineadministration procedures, including one-stop shops, residential management,public transport and water supervision through the e-government system.

FPT, who started investment in the cityfrom 2004, has so far employed 2,000 IT engineers from Da Nang to work for thecompany’s software export department.

In 2016, FPT debuted its IT Service Centre,the FPT Complex in Da Nang. It is the biggest IT service centre in central Vietnam,providing office space for 10,000 IT engineers and 3,200 other employees.

Da Nang plans to become a ‘smart city’ by2020 and a ‘green city’ by 2025. - VNA