Enancing Daily Life Through Smart, Connected, Sustainable Communities

The Smart City Concept and Its Relevance to Sarawak

A smart city broadly refers to an urban area that uses information and communication technology (ICT), data, and connected sensors to improve the efficiency of services, infrastructure, and governance, with the ultimate goal of enhancing residents’ quality of life. Globally, this includes smart mobility, smart energy grids, e-governance, environmental monitoring, and digitally enabled public services.

Malaysia’s national smart city journey formally began in 2018 with the MySmart City Framework, which established coordinated guidelines for urban digital transformation. Kuching was one of five pilot cities chosen under this framework, with early interventions targeting traffic congestion and flood risk through smart mobility systems and environmental monitoring technology.

Sarawak’s own articulation of the concept is anchored in PCDS 2030, launched in 2021, which aspires for “Sarawak to be a thriving society by 2030, driven by data and innovation, where everyone enjoys economic prosperity, social inclusivity, and a sustainable environment.” Sarawak state leadership has explicitly framed smart city development as essential to managing rapid urbanisation, a state urbanisation rate estimated at around 55–60%, compared with roughly 79% for Malaysia as a whole in 2024, and to addressing congestion, pollution, outdated infrastructure, and the demands of an increasingly digitally-savvy population. The Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030, launched in 2023, operationalises this ambition further, explicitly stating that it is underpinned by the UN SDGs.

Sarawak’s largest urban centre, Kuching, illustrates the scale of the challenge: Kuching Division’s population reached about 697,600 in 2024, with the wider Kuching District expected to approach 700,000 by 2030, growth that is straining road networks originally designed for a much smaller population, hence the urgency behind the state’s smart mobility and infrastructure programmes.

Existing and Planned Smart Infrastructure

Smart Transportation
The centrepiece of Sarawak’s smart mobility agenda is the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS), implemented by Sarawak Metro Sdn. Bhd. (a subsidiary of the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation). Key facts and figures include:

1. KUTS Phase 1 spans 69.9 km across approximately 31 to 35 stations on three lines (Blue, Red, and Green), connecting Kuching, Samarahan, and Serian, and is projected to serve roughly two million residents across Greater Kuching.
2. The backbone of KUTS is the Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) system, hydrogen-powered, rubber-tyred vehicles that follow a virtual track using sensors and magnetic road guidance, making it the first hydrogen-powered ART system in Southeast Asia. Sarawak has ordered 38 ART units from CRRC Zhuzhou in China; the first two units arrived in Kuching in Q2 2026 after completing testing, with a public pilot on the Rembus Depot-Northbank route targeted for Q4 2026 and full commercial operations from 2027.
3. ART is complemented by 55 hydrogen-powered feeder buses providing first- and last-mile connectivity within a 3 km radius of each station.
4. As of end-April 2026, overall physical progress of KUTS Phase 1 stood at 38.2%, against a planned target of 44.8%, with delays attributed to contractor performance, redesign work, and utility relocation, illustrating that even flagship smart-infrastructure projects face real-world execution risk.
5. The project switched from an originally proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, estimated at RM10.8 billion, to the ART system at a state-allocated budget of roughly RM6 billion, at an estimated cost of about RM80 million per kilometre, around one-sixth of the per-kilometre cost of the Klang Valley’s LRT3 (~RM540 million/km). This cost-efficiency argument is central to how the state has justified the technology choice to its legislature.
6. A dedicated Rembus Hydrogen Production Plant is being incorporated into the KUTS scope to enable in-house hydrogen generation for the fleet.

Smart and Sustainable Utilities
Sarawak’s energy strategy is a core pillar of its smart and green infrastructure:

1. Under the “10-20-30” target, Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) aims to reach 10 GW of installed generation capacity by 2030 and 15 GW by 2035, with renewable sources (hydropower, solar, and biomass) accounting for at least 60% of the capacity mix. As of 2025/2026, more than 70% of Sarawak’s roughly 5.9 GW of generation capacity already comes from renewable sources, chiefly hydropower from Bakun (2,400–2,520 MW), Murum (944 MW), and Batang Ai (94 MW), soon joined by the 1,285 MW Baleh Hydroelectric Project (targeted for commissioning by Q4 2030).
2. Additional installations include a 50 MW floating solar farm at Batang Ai and a 60 MWh battery energy storage system in Sejingkat, Kuching, both examples of smart-grid-adjacent infrastructure supporting grid stability and renewable integration.
3. Sarawak’s broader decarbonisation roadmap includes the Sarawak Energy Transition Policy (SET-P), the Sarawak Hydrogen Economy Roadmap, a Net Zero and Carbon Plan (net zero by 2050), and the Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Ordinance 2023, with plans for four carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) sites by 2030 and ambitions to export up to 10 GW of clean electricity across ASEAN borders.
4. On the digital-utility side, the state has expanded SMART towers and rural broadband connectivity, alongside digital public-service platforms such as SarawakPass (digital identity) and SPay Global (e-payments), plus the MySRBN rural broadband initiative, with 585 sites planned to extend connectivity to underserved communities.
5. A planned 500 MW data centre park in Kuching, aligned with the Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030, will use the state’s abundant hydropower to attract energy-intensive digital infrastructure investment, with the first facility offering 17 MW of IT capacity already secured.
6. Under the Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030, a Sarawak Integrated Operation Centre (SIOC) is planned as a central “operating system” for smart city management, handling big data, security and surveillance, and traffic management for urban centres.

Housing and Urban Planning Infrastructure
The Kuching Smart City Master Plan, which covers low-carbon mobility and integrated urban design (housing, sewage and waste management, drainage, parks, and public amenities), is being extended beyond Kuching to other Sarawak towns. Related developments include the emerging Kenyalang Smart City and Miri’s own Smart City Proof of Concept, which aims to make Miri “greener, smarter, and more liveable” by 2030, in line with PCDS 2030.

Impact on Daily Quality of Life for Urban Residents

Smart city infrastructure is only meaningful insofar as it changes how residents actually live. Several concrete impacts are already measurable or anticipated:

1. Digital access as a daily-life foundation: Malaysia’s ICT Use and Access by Individuals and Households Survey (2025, Department of Statistics Malaysia) found internet usage at 98.3% of individuals nationally (up from 98.0% in 2024), mobile phone usage at 99.6%, and household access to computers and the internet at 92.6% and 97.1%, respectively. Malaysia’s internet penetration stood at 97.7% of the population (about 34.9 million users) as of January 2025. These national gains are underpinned in Sarawak by SMART towers and rural broadband programmes that extend telehealth, e-learning, and e-commerce access to previously unconnected longhouse and rural communities.
2. Mobility and time savings: Once operational, KUTS is expected to ease Kuching’s peak-hour congestion, a widely cited “negative consequence” of the city’s rapid urbanisation, by giving commuters a reliable, zero-tailpipe-emission alternative across a network reaching UNIMAS, UiTM, and major commercial centres in Kuching and Samarahan.
3. Cleaner environment: Hydrogen-powered ART and feeder buses produce zero emissions at the point of use, directly supporting local air quality alongside Sarawak’s broader decarbonisation goals.
4. Digital government services: Platforms like SarawakPass and SPay Global reduce the need for residents to queue physically for identity verification or payments, extending convenience particularly to those in more remote parts of the state as connectivity expands.
5. International benchmarking of livability: The IMD Smart City Index 2025 (146 cities globally), a resident-perception-based index, ranked Kuala Lumpur 65th globally (though some 2025 reports place it at 73rd), ahead of regional peers such as Jakarta (103rd), Bangkok (86th), and Manila (125th), though behind Singapore (9th, Asia’s top performer) and far behind index leaders Zurich, Oslo, and Geneva. While Sarawak’s cities are not yet separately tracked in this index, Malaysia’s national trajectory, and Kuching’s designation as a national pilot city, provide a benchmark against which Sarawak’s own smart city progress can be measured over time. Globally, the 2025 index also found that housing affordability, not technology per se, is residents’ top concern in 110 of 146 cities, a reminder that quality-of-life gains depend on balancing technology with livability fundamentals like housing, healthcare, and green space.

Implementation Challenges

Despite strong political commitment, Sarawak’s smart city agenda faces significant practical hurdles:

Cost and Financing

1. KUTS alone represents a RM6 billion state commitment, with capital expenditure reported at RM623 million as of May 2024 for a project still only ~20% complete at that stage (rising to 38.2% physical progress by April 2026), underscoring the scale of sustained public investment required and the risk of cost or schedule overruns on any single flagship project.
2. Balancing this against other state priorities is a real constraint: the same PCDS 2030 project pipeline also includes a RM40 billion healthcare boost, rice self-sufficiency programmes, and major hydropower works (Baleh HEP alone is a multi-billion-ringgit undertaking), meaning smart city capital competes with other urgent development needs.

Community Acceptance and the Digital Divide

1. While mobile-broadband penetration exceeds 100% in most Malaysian states, fixed-broadband coverage and adoption still lag in states with lower GDP per capita, according to MCMC data, a pattern relevant to Sarawak’s more dispersed and rural population, where urbanisation (around 55–60%) trails the national average of 79%.
2. Digital inclusion gaps by sex persist nationally: internet usage among males was 98.7% versus 97.8% for females in 2025, a gap DOSM notes has slightly widened compared to the previous year, a reminder that “smart” services must be designed for genuinely equitable uptake.
3. At the state-development level, Sarawak’s own SDG performance illustrates the acceptance and equity challenge: an independent 2025 SDSN/Jeffrey Sachs Center dashboard found that, across 15 Malaysian states/federal territories and 15 SDGs assessed, only 73 instances were on track to meet targets by 2030, while 81 instances showed improvement too slow to hit the 2030 deadline, with the weakest national performance in SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). This suggests that technological rollout alone will not resolve underlying social and economic disparities that shape whether communities can access or benefit from smart infrastructure.
4. Large infrastructure changes, new transit corridors, redesigned road alignments (e.g., the KUTS Red Line’s shift to a fully elevated structure along Jalan Tun Razak), and construction-related disruption, also generate legitimate community concerns around land use, traffic disruption during construction, and fair compensation, which project teams must continue to manage through public communication and phased delivery.

Execution and Delivery Risk

1. KUTS Phase 1’s physical progress (38.2%) trailing its planned schedule (44.8%) as of April 2026, attributed to contractor performance issues, redesign works, and complex underground utility relocation, exemplifies a common global smart-infrastructure risk: ambitious technology adoption (Southeast Asia’s first hydrogen ART system) combined with complex civil works can extend timelines beyond initial projections.

Future Vision and Related Development Plans

Sarawak’s smart city trajectory over the remainder of the decade is anchored in several converging plans:

1. PCDS 2030 remains the master framework, targeting a “thriving, data- and innovation-driven society” with economic prosperity, social inclusivity, and environmental sustainability by 2030, and Sarawak’s leadership has committed to keeping smart city development “on the agenda” as urbanisation accelerates.
2. Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030 targets digital initiatives contributing RM56.4 billion (~20%) to Sarawak’s GDP by 2030, creating over 45,000 new high-paying jobs, achieving 96% household access to high-speed internet, and driving digital adoption among 80% of local MSMEs, delivered in three phases: strengthening digital readiness (to 2025), accelerating transformation (to 2027), and achieving a “digitally-developed Sarawak” (by 2030).
3. Transport expansion: The Kuching Smart City Master Plan is set to be extended to other urban areas of Sarawak beyond Kuching, while KUTS itself is planned to scale toward full commercial operation by 2027, alongside the emerging Kenyalang Smart City development.
4. Energy and green economy: Sarawak’s “10-20-30” energy target (10 GW by 2030, 15 GW by 2035), the hydrogen economy roadmap (including the Kota Petra Green Technology Park), and ambitions to attract RM700 billion in investment while creating 80,000 new jobs by 2050 under SET-P, with over 75% of income gains targeted at low- and middle-income groups, an explicit equity and “just transition” commitment.
5. Healthcare and social infrastructure: Sarawak’s first dedicated cancer centre in Kota Samarahan, part of a RM40 billion national healthcare boost under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), reflects how “smart city” thinking is being extended into social infrastructure planning, not just mobility and energy.
6. National alignment: At the federal level, Malaysia projects a 49% SDG achievement rate by 2030, well above the reported global average of 18%, with the government emphasising continued work on child nutrition, mental health, education, and disability-inclusive employment as priority gaps, and Malaysia due to present its third Voluntary National Review (VNR) on all 17 SDGs to the UN High-Level Political Forum.

Tying It Together: PCDS 2030, ESG, and the SDGs

Sarawak’s smart city programme is best understood not as a standalone technology initiative but as the operational layer connecting three overlapping frameworks:

1. PCDS 2030 is the state-level strategic vision for economic growth (digital and green economy), social inclusivity, and environmental sustainability, and smart city infrastructure (transport, energy, digital services) is presented by the state government as the delivery mechanism for that vision.
2. ESG considerations run through nearly every major project cited above: The Environmental dimension is served by hydrogen transport and renewable energy targets; the Social dimension by the “just transition” commitment (75%+ of SET-P income gains benefiting lower-income groups) and rural connectivity programmes; and the Governance dimension by frameworks like the Cyber Security Framework, the Environment (GHG Reduction) Ordinance 2023, and digital-government platforms aimed at transparency and service delivery.
3. The SDGs are explicitly referenced as the foundation of the Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030, and Sarawak’s projects map onto multiple goals directly: SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) via KUTS and digital infrastructure; SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) via the Kuching Smart City Master Plan; SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) via the 10-20-30 renewable target; and SDG 13 (Climate Action) via the Net Zero and Carbon Plan and CCUS hubs.

The honest picture, based on independent tracking, is mixed: Malaysia’s national SDG trajectory is reportedly outperforming the global average, yet state-level dashboards show many individual goals, including gender equality and hunger-related targets, are not yet on track. Sarawak’s smart city investments address some of these gaps (connectivity, economic inclusion, clean energy) but cannot substitute for broader social policy work on health, nutrition, and equity.

Conclusion

Sarawak’s smart city agenda, from hydrogen-powered autonomous transit gliding across Kuching to a state energy grid pivoting decisively toward renewables, represents one of the most concrete, well-funded smart city programmes in Malaysia outside the Klang Valley. It is deliberately embedded within PCDS 2030 and increasingly framed through ESG and SDG language, reflecting an understanding that “smart” infrastructure must ultimately serve broader goals of prosperity, inclusion, and sustainability. The scale of investment (billions of ringgit in transport and energy alone) and the ambition (a hydrogen ART system unprecedented in Southeast Asia) are genuinely significant. At the same time, delivery delays, digital divides between urban and rural Sarawak, and slower-than-targeted progress on several SDGs are reminders that technology adoption alone does not guarantee equitable outcomes; sustained investment, transparent governance, and active community engagement will determine whether Sarawak’s smart cities truly translate into a better daily life for all its residents by 2030.

References

(Formatted in APA 7th Edition)

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