Panasonic opens doors to smart town

Will invest 60 billion yen to develop around 1,000 homes in Fujisawa

Fujisawa (Japan), November 27:

On a bright sunny morning, after several days of rain and chilly winds, Panasonic Corporation flagged off here on Thursday what couldemerge as a new business for it, the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST).

Fujisawa, a town 40 km from Tokyo, from where one cansight the country's storied Mount Fuji, is the site of the Japanese conglomerates experiment with sustainable living.

On a 47-acredisused factory site in the Kanagawa prefecture, Panasonic will eventually invest 60 billion yen (around $500 million) by 2018, when the site will seearound 1,000 homes spring up, and around 3,000 people will live there.

Masahiro Ido, Executive Officer of Panasonic Corp, who made a presentation on the city to media from around the world, said thetown will generate 30 per cent of its power requirements from solar energy and will share services such as electric cars andelectric-powered bicycles. Already 100 families have moved into the SST and been living there since April when the project was soft-launched.

The day also marks the 120th birth centenary of Kounosuke Matsushita, who founded the consumer electronics giant in the city ofOsaka in the 1920s.

A Panasonic spokesman, who took the media on a tour of the SST, says the group expects to earn 27 billion yen in revenues initiallywhen all the houses are sold by 2018. Around 600 single homes and 400 apartments will be constructed.

Panasonic heads a consortium of18 companies, which have collaborated in setting up this smart town and Fujisawa SST Management Company, which will manage the townsessential services of energy, security, mobility and healthcare, will continue to earn revenue from providing these services. In a30-year period, the company expects to earn 40 billion yen in revenues.

Ido said three more such towns are planned in the country in Osaka and near Fujisawa, commencement of which will be announcednext spring.

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Panasonic opens doors to smart town