$15m for Smart Cities projects

Six projects designed to make Perth a smarter city were launched yesterday, and they comprise a very eclectic collection, from a driverless electric bus in South Perth to management of wetlands in Joondalup.

The projects also include renewable energy generation in Fremantle and an irrigation trial in the City of Perth.

The funding for the projects includes $6 million from the federal government’s inaugural Smart Cities and Suburbs Program.

A further $9 million will be contributed by local councils , universities and business groups participating in the projects, taking the total spend to $15 million.

The grants were announced by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in South Perth, at the site of Australia’s first driverless electric shuttle bus, the RAC Intellibus™.

The automated bus has completed 1,800 3.5-kilometre trips along the South Perth foreshore during the past year.

A further $980,000 will be invested in this project, a collaboration between the Royal Automobile Club of WA and the City of South Perth.

The funding will extend the project for another two years using a new air-conditioned shuttle bus..

The City of Fremantle is co-funding projects with a total cost of $8.3 million.

They encompass renewable energy generation and storage, rainwater storage and distribution, and an electric vehicle shared ownership trial.

City of Perth projects comprise a communications precinct around the new Optus Stadium and an irrigation trial in public parks, costing $2.6 million.

The City of Joondalup project is a monitoring system to better manage the Yellagonga Wetlands, costing $2 million.

The University of Western Australia is collaborating with the City of Wanneroo to study rail patronage, to improve the development of rail station precincts along the Metronet extension, at a cost of  $1 million.

The City of Gosnells is spending $265,000 to study the thermal performance of newly built homes, to encourage the uptake of energy efficiency measures for new housing.

The Perth projects are among 52 Australia-wide that have been awarded $28.5 million in federal government funding.