MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The Star

Safa Rayaneh, which provides geographic information system (GIS)-based solutions for urban planning and urban management, has set up an MSC status company in Malaysia called Safa Rayaneh MSC Sdn Bhd with its office in Cyberjaya at the end of last year.

Safa Rayaneh regional manager Javad Zarrin told StarBiz at the 2nd International Symposium on Knowledge Cities, that its first target market would be Asia, the Middle East and later Europe, US and the whole world.

Javad said its comprehensive solutions with the tagline City In Your Hand had been implemented in 40 SARA Virtual Cities and 60 municipalities. It is being used by their 17 million inhabitants after 12 years of research and development and five years of marketing it.

He said several of these virtual cities has a fairly sizeable population such as the Mashhad (2.5 million), Shiraz (1.5million), Kharaj (1.7million) and Qom (900,000).

By using the unique software, its inhabitants can access a host of information from checking one's utility bills, municipal services, events and even enquiries or complaints via a free citizens' portal using computers as well as web-based tools such as PDAs and cellular phones.

Users have different secured access levels to ensure privacy and security.

SARA Virtual City is a multi-platform, multi-layer and component-based solution that uses Safa Rayaneh's decade-long experience in GIS-based applications for municipalities and other urban service providers for services such as civil engineering, water and power supply, property management, property registration bodies, post and communication.

For example under the SARA land and properties sub-system, it can trace and list the history of a property before and after implementation of structured plans. It can also detect municipality properties and show them on a map, comparing transacted property values and preparing municipal income, list all its possessions and e-archive laws and regulations for easy access of users.

Javad said by bringing all governmental and private urban service providers to share the same base information and map, it could reduce the cost of creating and maintaining data, increase speed and co-ordination of internal and cross-organisational procedures.

"Ultimately it will improve transparency," he added.

MSCMS head of special projects unit Azman Karib Ibrahim said Safa Rayaneh has chosen Malaysia as a launch pad to the global market partly because it considered MSC as a global brand. He said MSCMS was also keen to tap on this vast business potential.

"We are looking at starting a pilot virtual city project in Selangor. We also plan to have a unified brand by 2008 that will originate from Malaysia and marketed globally," he said, adding that both parties were keen to look for smart partnerships with Malaysian companies, local authorities as well as state governments.

Safa Rayaneh MSC Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Gh. Reza Zarrin said Safa Rayaneh initially faced many challenges. Among them were difficulties in convincing the authorities and organisations to share their data for the common good.

"We have to break the wall. It was very difficult at first to get all parties to work together. Ten years ago, the highest budget for information technology (IT) solutions in some municipalities (in Iran) was only US$5,000 annually. Today, the same municipalities are spending US$15mil a year on just e-tickets. IT is no more an option but a necessity," he added.

Safa Rayaneh MSC Sdn Bhd international sales and marketing manager Mehrdad Varedi gave a simple illustration – by combining GIS with GPS (global positioning system), a fire engine or ambulance can be directed to the place of emergency from the nearest fire station or hospital. "It can also tell whether a hospital has a particular service such as brain surgery. As time is the essence during an emergency, having the right information can save lives," he added.