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Defining i-City as an MSC-status transit-oriented development

The i-City project in the capital city of Selangor, developed from scratch on a vacant plot will transform into a mega transit-oriented development (TOD) upon its full completion in the next 10 to 15 years.

I-Berhad, the master developer of i-City, plans to build tracks for electric buses and trams.

Chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong told NST Property that the purpose is to enhance connectivity within i-City and reduce carbon emissions.

The i-City project will also be linked to the i-City LRT3 station through covered walkways.

The station is part of the 37.8-kilometer long Bandar Utama–Klang light rapid transit line development project by the Federal government.

Construction of the LRT3 begin in 2016, and the expected completion date is in 2024.

Besides to reduce congestion, especially on the Federal Highway between Kuala Lumpur and Klang, the LRT3, which will integrate with the LRT Kelana Jaya Line at the Glenmarie station in Shah Alam will help spur economic growth.

“i-City is well connected to major highways like the Federal Highway, New Klang Valley Expressway, and West Coast Expressway. But within i-City, we want to encourage the use of electric buses and trams so there will be fewer cars on the road. We want i-City to be environmentally-friendly for the residents, working population, and visitors. The LRT3 line will further enhance the development and connectivity,” Lim said.

This RM10 billion integrated ultrapolis is being developed across 72 acres of prime freehold land in Shah Alam. The project started full swing in 1995.

I-Berhad is scaling up the development in line with Selangor Structure Plan 2035, and to become one of the best smart cities in the world.

The Selangor Structure Plan 2035 will involve various aspects of development from housing, physical land use, transportation, business, tourism, community facilities, environmental protection, utilities, and infrastructure development. It will be the main reference for Selangor’s physical planning and help drive economic growth for the next 20 years.

Next year i-City will commence new developments, and it will also be completing several projects like DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, with the luxury Hill10 Residence above it.

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel is slated for opening in the second half of next year, while the handing over of Hill10 Residence to unit buyers will take place around the hotel’s opening, Lim said.

To date, i-City is 40 per cent developed with 12 towers standing tall that are visible from the Federal Highway.

The latest block to be completed is Sumurwang Tower, powered by ABC (Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Cloud).

The 33-storey tower, home to Lim’s brand-new office and multinational companies, among its current tenants involved in logistics and financial consulting services, is a Green Building Index-certified Grade A office tower that embodies the ABC approach.

The smart building, standing tall between Central i-City mall and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel employs facial ­recognition and QR codes for entry and lift access.

Central i-City mall was officially opened last year and is about 80 per cent occupied.

Upon i-City’s full completion in the next 10 to 15 years the development will be home to over 30 buildings comprising Grade A office towers, residential blocks, hotels, convention centres, hotels, the mall, retail, data centres, theme parks, and a wellness hub.

To date, the developer has handed over 4,000 residential units to buyers at i-City.

The crème de la crème will be a 78-storey block called SGT Tower, which is set to also be the tallest building in Selangor.

SGT Tower will be home to global giant tech companies and a luxury five-star hotel.

Complementing the whole of i-City is SGT Double Eye, featuring a first-of-its-kind double Ferris wheel, with the outer wheel interlooping over the inner one.

Technology-driven project from the beginning

I-Berhad had envisioned i-City as a smart city from day one since its inception 15 years ago and today it is the No 1 technology city in SGT, equipped with a 400GB network with the deployment of 5G in the near future.

The RM10 billion mega-project started off as the first privately-funded development with Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cybercentre in 2005 and later it invested in the Internet of Things (IoT) to take the whole development to another level.

More recently the development embraced the ABC approach and coming up next is the Knowledge Management System (KMS), or better known as the ‘second brain’ of sorts to advance the project and goals to completion.

Lim said the second brain of the i-City development will look into creating a digital environment that promotes clarity and peace of mind.

“We are creating a structure around the development to reliably move it forward. By leveraging the power of technology, we can supercharge our creativity and leverage our ideas to transform the development, businesses, and life,” Lim said.

The KMS, an AI-powered approach for i-City, will look at managing all information needed to run the business. It would help organise all materials needed to create the required output and save all knowledge-based information gained which could then be retrieved anytime and anywhere.

Unlike the human body, and by extension the human brain, information stored in a KMS will easily last up to 1,000 years and is possibly 1,000 times more powerful.

This second brain also focuses on organising current commitments into projects, being clear on the various areas of responsibility and maintaining a clear division between the information that is being used and the information to be stored for archiving purposes.

Lim said a significant plus point of having the second brain is that it enables I-Berhad to go paperless, as well as boost efficiency and productivity through the collection of knowledge and information.

He said the ABC-based technologies via this second brain will be applied in all of the upcoming developments in i-City, starting with the soon-to-be-launched BeCentral project.

BeCentral will have a Facial Recognition System for access to the high-rise residential units, and the Building Management System (BMS) upon its completion in the next three years, Lim said.

Lim said the adoption of the ABC technologies coupled with emerging information and communications (ICT) technologies will complete the smart-tech features of new residential units.

He said the adoption of all these technologies in BeCentral will complete its evolution into a “fully-smart” home.

The advances of emerging ICT technologies in IoT as an enabler, Big Data, Cloud Computing, and AI forms an ultra-intelligent Cloud Integration Platform powered by this second brain, he said.

“It will become the focus of building automation and management applications that transforms upgrades and promote smart building operations, an important step for developers in transforming their developments into “smart” clusters.”

Source: NST