Abang Johari (front, fourth right) and others in a photo call in front of the new MCC building currently being built at Marina City. — Penerangan photo
MIRI: The new Miri City Hall building equipped with smart technology facilities is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year following delays brought about by the Movement Control Order (MCO), said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said the iconic building would be a symbol of unity, service upgrade and smart technology leap for the city.
“This building was supposed to be completed by Dec 24 this year but the Covid-19 pandemic and the MCO restrictions caused some delays,” he said after a closed-door briefing on the project at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
The city council building costs RM92 million and its shape resembles an oil barrel to reflect Miri’s past as a thriving oil town.
“Not only is the building ‘smart’, it will also lead to a smart-savvy Miri community with applications such as Smart Bus and Smart Track which are controlled from this building to facilitate more efficient bus service or more efficient waste collection,” the chief minister said.
The South China Sea facing the structure will also make it iconic thus raising the tourism image of Miri city, he added.
Abang Johari also said he approved the allocation for the project in line with Miri’s status as an oil and gas and resort city.
Meanwhile, Miri mayor Adam Yii described the state government’s commitment to see the project through as a “dream come true” for a more modern city council building in Miri and the Smart City Initiative in the state. He said while the building’s shape of an oil barrel signifies Miri as the state’s oil producing region, its architecture and design was to meet the future needs of the city alongside efforts to transform Miri into a green and vibrant city.
“We are immensely proud as this project is an important milestone in the development of Miri city.”
Yii said local Mirians are proud the city has been chosen as the pioneer for the implementation of Smart City initiatives in Sarawak, adding that the nine-month rollout of the project was a big challenge which the team pulled off despite the MCO and the subsequent Conditional MCO and Recovery MCO.
Nine modules and sub-modules will be rolled out under the Miri Smart City concept which include infrastructure solutions as well as software and systems solutions, all aimed at providing Mirians with a safe, secure and convenient place to work and live.