Korat gears up for smart city status with new online services in 2025

The Muang Nakhon Ratchasima Municipality will next year provide online services to residents as part of its smart city development, which kicked off in 2021, a deputy mayor said.

Chatree Wongwibulsin, deputy mayor of Korat municipality, said on Thursday that the Korat Smart City project has progressed a lot with several online services ready for use next year.

The smart city functions that will be provided next year include a smart online public service system, document handling system, human resource management system, wasted water analysis system, and a system for land and assets appraisal, Chatree said.

He explained that the Korat Smart City project initially focused on a smart traffic system, smart environment system and smart public sector system.

The development of these three systems would later lead to the development of a smart economy, smart living, smart energy and smart population systems, Chatree added.

He said his municipality has progressed a lot in its smart city development.

For instance, in 2022, the municipality launched the smart water billing function to make it convenient for residents to pay their water bills and check their water usage.

The municipality also introduced a smart function for receiving public complaints and installed smart CCTV during the first phase in 2022.

Then in 2023, Muang Nakhon Ratchasima Municipality was selected by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency to be turned into a smart city.

That year, the Korat Municipality launched its Korat Smart City app, which allows complainants to track their complaints as well as monitor the traffic situation and keep track of key announcements in the city.

This year, Chatree said, the municipality has added several more functions to its smart city project, including an online banking function to allow city residents to pay their water bills online as well as monitor the river’s water level in real-time, so they can be alert of possible flooding.

Chatree said the municipality also added smart functions to its street lamps, so it can be automatically alerted when any of them stops working.

To better develop more smart city functions, Chatree said his municipality will dispatch officials to attend the Thailand Smart City Expo 2024 in Bangkok to acquire more knowledge. The expo is scheduled at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre from November 6 to 8.

He explained that one problem inhibiting the development of smart cities was confusion over the Interior Ministry’s procurement regulations.

He said municipalities were confused about whether certain software or hardware could be purchased for smart city development. Hence, he said, the Digital Economy and Society Ministry should cooperate with the Interior Ministry to clarify the regulations.