As the city of Harare faces rapid population growth coupled with climate change, a new state-of-the-art, sustainable capital city is being built in the suburb of Mount Hampden.
In Zimbabwe, the ‘Zim Cybercity’ is being launched in Mount Hampden, west of the capital Harare. It is a smart city comprising 250 homes, including 80 luxury villas with green spaces, offices and commercial spaces connected to artificial intelligence (AI) as well as a digital transport system. The project is being led by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Read more: ZW: A $500m smart city 18km from Harare to be built
Zimbabwe’s political leaders have a remedy for the collapse of the capital Harare: Build a new “cybercity” with as much as $60 billion of other people’s money.
The development in Mount Hampden, 11 miles northeast of Harare, is slated to be the site of the national parliament, headquarters of the central bank, the high and supreme courts, mineral auction centers, a stock exchange, a presidential palace and luxury villas.
Read more: Zimbabwe’s solution for Harare’s collapse, is a new modern smart city
As the country adopts the Smart City concept, three pilot projects to kick-start the process have been identified as those places are transformed into digital and green energy smart cities.
The Smart City concept is expected to generate the much-needed investments expected to boost economic growth towards the targeted upper middle-income status by 2030.
Read more: ZW: Smart cities to generate investment, boost economic growth
Making a city “smart” is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas and this will continue for the next couple of decades. It is estimated that more than 80% of global gross domestic product is generated in cities and urbanisation, if managed well, it can contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth. In the case of Africa, urbanisation is progressing rapidly. The continent’s rate of urbanisation soared from 15% in 1960 to 40% in 2010, and is projected to reach 60% in 2050. It is expected that urban populations in Africa will triple in the next 50 years.
Read more: ZW: Young entrepreneur sees ‘smart cities’ concept transforming Zim
A massive street lighting programme has been rolled out countrywide with a pilot project being carried out in Harare where the installation of more than 1 200 new lights is currently underway.
The project, which will be cascaded to all the country’s cities, towns and growth points, is a product of President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement policy as well as his “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra.
Read more: ZW: Government rolls out massive street lighting programme nationwide