Outeniqua Smart City Corridor in the pipeline
From the George Herald, 19 Dec 2012
GEORGE NEWS – A plan to kick start the economy of the region on a sustainable basis, using smart city technology has been taking shape over the past few months.
Citizen connectivity, environmentally friendly transport, sustainable natural resource management and a knowledge economy is all part of the master plan.
The brains behind the concept – George Business Chamber President, Imel Rautenbach and technology strategists Rudie Shepherd & Nathan Jeffrey – will in mid-January be tabling their roadmap plan for Outeniqua Smart City Corridor (OSCC) at a joint session with the four mayors of the Garden Route, and the Western Cape Finance and Tourism Minister Alan Winde.
Central to the concept is the idea that when the towns in the Outeniqua Corridor from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay join forces to tackle common regional issues, the opportunity arises to gain the benefits of Smart City designs and technology – otherwise reserved for the mega cities of the world. “We should not wait until we develop the problems of urban sprawl, pollution, traffic congestion and technological apartheid. Now is the time to design the future place we will all love to live in,” said Shepherd.
“We already have had significant buy-in for our plan, and believe this collective thinking power can be put to use, for it is our intention that this master plan for making us internationally competitive must be refined and be implemented – as soon as possible,” said Rautenbach.