Skip to main content

Santiago to award smart city projects in July

The metropolitan region government of Chile, which includes capital Santiago, expects to award tenders worth a total of US$1.6 million in July for five smart city projects. The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati. The strategy also includes private funding and r
April 13, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The metropolitan region government of Chile, which includes capital Santiago, expects to award tenders worth a total of US$1.6 million in July for five smart city projects.

The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati.

The strategy also includes private funding and resources from other public entities. In the private sector, Spanish firms 509 Indra and 6883 Telefónica have already financed the installation of sensors in some parts of Santiago, which provide information for website that gives users real time information on how long their journey will take or how fast traffic is moving.

Abbagliati's team gave the universities a rough outline for each project, one being the idea of smart mobility. "We'll place sensors in a part of Santiago and that will generate open data that anyone can access and use to develop an app," he said.

Each project will be designed to span 18 months and they are expected to go live in December 2016.

The government is hoping that smart city projects like these will pay for themselves in terms of savings and therefore fully expects to continue investing. "We hope to put up a similar figure next year and run the contest annually," Abbagliati said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • FTA disappointed at Dartford free-flow toll delay
    September 22, 2014
    ‘The delay of the introduction of free-flow tolls at Dartford River Crossing disappointing as it may present additional costs to industry’ is the message from the Freight Transport Association (FTA). The Association has voiced its concern in response to the announcement by the Highways Agency (HA) that the planned technology to allow motorists to use the crossing without having to stop at barriers and pay is to be delayed by up to four weeks. Originally planned to be in place by the 28 October 2014, th
  • People to power reporting of weather-related road conditions
    November 28, 2013
    Citizen reporting offers the potential of gathering timely information about road conditions without the need to invest heavily in equipment or to dispatch inordinate numbers of staff to visit and report from various locations. What could be better than an army of motorists and other road users sending in reports of conditions they encounter on their journeys? Back in 2003, Wyoming DOT set up a system of enhanced citizen-assisted reporting as a way of gathering weather-related information on road conditi
  • Hawaii backs road user charging to replace fuel tax
    August 7, 2019
    Fuel tax revenue in Hawaii is falling - and even in paradise, someone has to pay. Adam Hill talks to Hawaii DoT’s Scot Uruda about a major change in the way the state funds road improvements All over the world, governments, transportation agencies and local authorities are casting around for new forms of revenue as the money from taxes imposed on fuel begins to trickle away. Spending is outstripping tax take as a combination of more efficient internal combustion engines and the increasing take-up of cars
  • Manchester seeks smart but not selective transport solutions
    January 25, 2018
    Smarter transport relies on better communications both with travellers and between transport providers. Andrew Williams reports. Inrix’s prediction that the cost of traffic congestion will rise by 63% to £21bn per year by 2030 clearly illustrates that, in addition to the ongoing inconvenience and inefficiency, ongoing gridlock is a significant drain on the economy. It is against this backdrop that a Cisco-led consortium has launched CitySpire, a smart transport programme that uses location-based services a