Tech giant Huawei and Saudi service provider and operator, Smart City Solutions Company (SC2), have announced a newly signed agreement to collaborate on smart city projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The projects that stem from the agreement are all in line with the Kingdom’s National Transformation Plan 2020 and Saudi Vision 2030.
The first project involves implementing smart lighting, smart parking and video analytics solutions which will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms as well as robust, state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure to be deployed in Al Khobar, Dhahran and Dammam.
This agreement aims to essentially enable both companies to jointly plan and execute their smart city initiatives and to operate a smart city platform along with its services for their customers. The initial part of the project will focus on mobility services (including parking) as well as sustainability in terms of energy-saving and light management. In addition to this, they will also focus on smart waste management and safety services.
The service portfolio also comprises of an operation certain within which all city activities are covered and monitored in real-time. This will ensure that decisions are made with the utmost efficiency.
CEo of SC2, Adnan Al Marshad, said, “SC2 and Huawei are joining their efforts to provide the market with agile smart city service portfolio and operating models that can be tailored to different types of cities whether governmental, private or special-purpose economic zones.
He continued, “Our first project under this agreement is the Dammam parking project in which SC2 is contracted for 25 years to operate start-of-the-art parking and command centres for AL Khobar, Dammam and Dhahran cities. The leadership of Huawei in the smart cities market in Saudi Arabia made the perfect choice for SC2 to embark on this great journey.”
Ahmed Al Sanaa, Chariman of the board of Batic Group (parent company of SC2), stated, “SC2 was established with a vision to be the first smart city operator in Saudi Arabia, a proposition which is missing in the market today.”
“It engages with city managers and developers in public-private partnership models providing a unique central citizen experience and enable city officials to take informed decisions to provide efficiency to its operators,” he added.
David Shi, President of Middle East at Huawei Enterprise has stated that the new partnership would enable them to approach the smart city market with “innovative models” to share both the risks and rewards with all city developers and operators.