The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has called upon urban authorities to adopt international standards on smart cities to provide quality life to their citizens.
Speaking at the World Standards Day Celebrations held at Kampala City Authority (KCCA) Mayor’s Grounds on Friday, the UNBS Executive Director, Dr. Ben Manyindo said: “Urban authorities should strive for sufficient fresh water, universal access to cleaner energy, the ability to travel efficiently, a sense of safety and security to provide a decent quality of life to their citizens”.
With expanding urban areas expected to host up to 70 % of the total world population by 2050, adopting international standards form smart cities has become a necessity.
Dr. Manyindo added that, “Standards contain expert knowledge and best practices, and are essential enablers in ensuring quality and performance of products and services. Without benchmarking on International Standards, cities will struggle to run safe and smooth services.”
The KCCA Director Physical Planning, Mr. Moses Atwine, said: “As KCCA, we have embraced the concept of smart cities and we undertaking a number of initiatives to implement standards for smart cities.”
The event included a panel discussion of delivered by experts from National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Ministry of Works and Transport, which are the leading government bodies that are central to implementing standards for smart cities.
Dr. Manyindo urged the government ministries, departments, and agencies represented to constitute a technical committee to discuss and implement the standards for smart cities.
Celebrated every year on the 14th of October, the World Standards Day is an opportunity to pay tribute to the collaborative efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards.The theme for the 2017 World Standards Day is: “Standards make cities smarter”.
The World Standards Day is an initiative of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), three leading developers of International Standards.
