Global group has sector with urban focus

21st February 2014

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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With the world’s top 600 cities (with populations of 600 000 or greater) responsible for more than 50% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), urban infrastructure is a major focus for Germany-based global engineering and technology group Siemens.

“This is one of the fastest-growing sectors of global GDP,” highlights Siemens infrastructure and cities sector CEO Dr Roland Busch. “There’s a lot of investment in cities. It’s a sustainable market. Urbanisation is one of the key drivers of sustainable growth of GDP. This is because an urban environment is the most effective and efficient way to provide infrastructure for people. So we formed a new sector – infrastructure and cities.”

Siemens provides products and systems and integrates and implements overarching solutions for urban infrastructure, depending on the specific needs of the various towns and cities. “This business is not about global market share. It’s about local market share. It’s really a local business,” he notes. “We have to work city by city. The political structure of cities has a big effect on working with them. Some mayors have enormous power. Others have very little power and the cities are run by councils. In China, we often have to work with the City [Communist] Party Secretary, not the mayor. So we gear our approach to individual cities. We have people who are specialists in specific major cities, who know how they are structured, how they are run, who is in charge, and so on. We also work with local partners.”

The group can provide key infrastructure for cities, including railways, road traffic management systems, smart electricity grids (both medium and low voltage), as well as energy efficient, fire-safe and secure buildings. “We’re about automating basic infrastructure – transport, energy and buildings – in cities.”

Projects can be greenfield or brownfield, with greenfield projects being brand-new cities and towns, designed from scratch. Brownfield projects involve existing cities. And in parts of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, cities can be millennia old, with the layouts of their central or old city areas still following the original plans (if there were, in fact, originally any plans at all). Even their modern infrastructure can be quite old. For example, the London Underground is now 151 years old (its first line, the Metropolitan, opened in January 1863).

London is, in fact, one of the old cities (it was originally established by the Romans, in or soon after CE 43) that Siemens has worked with to optimise its transport system. “For old cities, you need to focus on intermodal transport – metros, buses, road traffic management,” he explains. “We optimised the system in London. There is no silver bullet. You have to try to coordinate systems. The result is we reduced traffic in London streets by 20% while improving traffic flow within London by 37%. We cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 150 000 t/y. This included the introduction of hybrid buses and global positioning system navigation for all buses – we know where they are. You must look at things from an intermodal perspective – that’s the trick. Brownfield projects involve a lot of challenges. We had to resignal the London Underground while running the trains.”

Although each city is unique, lessons learnt from each project can be passed through Siemens’ global network. Thus, South Africa will benefit from the experience accrued in London. “We’ll be upgrading the railway network in Gauteng, with minimal traffic disruption,” cites Busch.

While not all units of the infrastructure and cities sector – for example, Building Technologies – are currently supported by Siemens’ divisions in Africa (including South Africa), the expertise is, if required, available and can be supplied from elsewhere. Currently, the markets in South Africa and other African countries are too small to justify the permanent establishment of such capabilities on the continent, although this is expected to change with time.

Cities tend to have the same types of challenges and problems (although the precise nature of these issues varies enormously from place to place.) “Whether I talk to the mayor of a new city or an old one, the first thing we talk about is traffic,” he reports. “Every city of more than about two-million people has traffic problems. London’s traffic is nothing in comparison to Jakarta’s! The second thing we talk about is effective and efficient supply of energy – and CO2 emissions; many cities have CO2 targets, not just for environmental reasons but to reduce energy costs. “You need upgraded networks, smart grids and a reliable power supply. Thirdly, we talk about waste water and resources and security. Cities are competing against each other, both locally and globally. They compete for investment and talent – talent drives your economy. No one wants to work in an insecure place.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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