The nation’s largest smart city project, Switching on Darwin, has successfully been completed on schedule and within budget.
The project aims to make Darwin a world-leading smart city with the addition of 912 new LED lights, 138 new CCTV cameras, 39 new hotspots to extend free WiFi, 24 environmental sensors, smart parking sensors, along with an audio system in the Mall.
The $10 million project, which received $5 million funding from the Federal Government and $2.5 million each from the NT Government and City of Darwin, was launched in July 2018.
Switching on Darwin will deliver many benefits to the community and our environment, including:
- Enhanced community safety
- Improved and more efficient Council services
- Greater environmental sustainability by reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions
- Smart planning where data will inform planning and design
- Innovation with data available to the community and business sector
- Improved public spaces through Wi-Fi, lighting, smart parking and better understanding of pedestrian movement.
City of Darwin Lord Mayor, Kon Vatskalis, said completion of the project positioned Darwin as a leader in innovation.
“We now have the tools to improve the liveability of our city, the delivery of services to our community and to better understanding our local environment.”
Local Member for Port Darwin, Paul Kirby, said the Esplanade is one of Darwin City’s most pristine and popular exercise areas.
“Since being elected I’ve been having discussions with people about making it brighter and safer for exercise in the evenings.
“That’s why the NT Government is committed to funding and partnering this project.”
Senator for the Northern Territory, Sam McMahon, said the Federal Government was pleased to invest in better services and infrastructure for all Territorians.
“The completed Switching on Darwin project is an important part of the Morrison Government’s commitment to keeping Darwin residents and visitors safe and improving the amenity of our public spaces.
“This project simply would not have been possible without the $5 million investment by the Morrison Government and I’m proud to see the completion of this great initiative.”
With construction complete the focus has now moved to testing and implementation, with the aim of a fully integrated system being available by the end of June 2019.
“A fully integrated dashboard is being developed which will display trends in the data being collected, including temperature, rain and humidity, noise and dust, wind speed and CO2 levels,” Mr Vatskalis said.
