Kenya says construction of smart city on course to hasten digital transformation

NAIROBI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) — The setting up of critical infrastructure in Kenya’s Konza Technopolis, a smart city, has gathered steam to facilitate a digital and green economic transition that promises jobs and renewal, officials said.
The smart city, located about 70 km southeast of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, will be completed soon, with investments from the public sector, industry, and bilateral donors, Konza Technopolis CEO John Paul Okwiri said Wednesday.
“Our vision is to establish a fully-fledged smart city that is the best in Africa and seek partnerships to develop supportive infrastructure,” he told a media tour of Konza Technopolis. “This project will have ripple effects on the entire economy.”
As a flagship project of Kenya’s Vision 2030, Konza Technopolis seeks to transform the country into an industrialized middle-income economy by leveraging information and communications technology (ICT), green energy, innovations and entrepreneurship, Okwiri said.
Covering 5,000 acres (about 2,023 hectares) of land, the smart city is expected to contribute 2 percent to Kenya’s gross domestic product and accommodate 240,000 workers.
Konza Technopolis is also a special economic zone that will serve as a center of excellence in digital media, the generator of green technologies, waste management and climate-smart agriculture, Okwiri declared.
He said the first phase of the smart city’s construction, which includes landscaping, a water treatment plant, a drainage system, power lines and ICT infrastructure, has been completed.
Phase two of the project will involve the construction of a digital media city, Okwiri said, adding that the smart city’s anchor tenant, the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, is now fully in place.
He said that a data center built by Chinese telecoms firm Huawei will aid connectivity and innovation in the smart city, attracting global talent to spur the growth of the digital economy in Kenya.
Josephine Ndambuki, chief manager of business development and innovation at Konza Technopolis, said that Kenya will leverage international best practices to make the smart city a hub for content creation, green housing, biodiversity conservation, and renewable energy. ■