MALAYSIA’S Sunway City has been recognised as a Top Smart City Initiative in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) under the Smart Buildings category by IDC Government Insights, a leading market intelligence and advisory firm for IT, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Sunway City won as an Integrated Smart and Low-Carbon Township, alongside category winner Zero Carbon Building from Hong Kong.

The transformation from a wasteland made barren from tin mining activities into the wonderland that it is today, has made Sunway City a model of sustainability for other township developments in the region.

It was Malaysia’s first fully integrated green township as certified by the Green Building Index in 2012, and was named a Low Carbon City by the Malaysian Institute of Planners in 2016.

Sunway City has come a long way in the past four decades, and now hosts a thriving community of 200,000 who live, learn, work, play and live in a healthy, safe and connected environment.

“In all our endeavours, sustainability and social responsibility have been an integral part of our business framework as we expand our presence worldwide and work towards a sustainable future.

“Sunway is committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and I hope to continue creating positive impact on our cities and communities within Malaysia and beyond in line with the SDGs,” said Sunway Group chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah.

Sunway is setting out to make its mark in advancing the SDGs in the region through the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC), which was launched at Sunway University in November 2016.

The JSC was set up as part of a strategic partnership between the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, initiated and driven by Cheah, who has become a champion of sustainability in the region.

Sunway City’s sustainable integrated township model has been successfully adapted across the country, evident in the 546.3ha lush Sunway City Ipoh, and the upcoming 728.4ha Sunway Iskandar developments.

Sunway City is now intensifying efforts through various smart initiatives which will set the blueprint for future smart cities in Malaysia.

Now in its third year, the Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) recognises the most outstanding smart city projects in APeJ across a total of 14 functional smart city award categories.

IDC launched the Smart City Development Index to help establish the fundamental causes of birth, evolution, and survival of key cities in the region.