In an exclusive interview with FutureGov, Danny Pomanto, Mayor of Makassar, Indonesia’s sixth most populous city with 1.5 million residents, described his plans for a highly mobile and connected smart city.
Mobility and open data form the foundation of Pomanto’s plan for this city. “Mobile applications will provide real-time data that helps residents plan their day and improve ease of communicating and transacting with businesses and government agencies.”
He described how he envisions the future Makassar City to be: “Using my mobile phone, I can check road and traffic conditions so I can plan the best route to my desired destination. An application shows me real-time availability of parking lots nearby. If I need to pay taxes, I can do it anywhere through mobile banking.”
Makassar City has the highest economic growth rate of 9.88 per cent, compared to the national average of 6.1 per cent.
According to statistics from Telcos, Makassa’s internet penetration rate is higher than that of Jakarta, and is the second highest in Indonesia, after Palembang.
To prepare city residents for mobile and online services, Pomanto is working on setting up free wifi in public spaces.
During his campaign for mayorship, he was known as ‘Son of Makassar Alley’, because one of his priorities is to ensure the inclusion of commoners living in the alleys.
And part of this goal includes providing digital accessibility to these people. “I want everyone to have access to internet, even people who live in the alleys,” he added.
More surveillance cameras will be put up around the city to improve safety and traffic management. “We now have CCTV cameras set up at five corridors. This will increase to 100 corridors in the near future.”
Pomanto will also be leveraging ICT to transform how the city government of 18,000 employees will be managed. He was inspired after seeing ‘Flightradar24’, a flight tracker providing real-time information about thousands of aircraft around the world.
“If we can use technology to provide oversight on our employees, tracking our activities and operation, I am certain we can improve our efficiency and solve more problems,” he said.
The City will soon launch e-payment systems that enable businesses to easily pay all types of taxes and fees. Pomanto expects the roll-out to increase tax revenue by 200