The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
CONSTRUCTION of the proposed Melfort Smart City in Mashonaland East province is set to gather pace after Government secured investors for the project.
It will be strategically located, along the Harare-Mutare Highway.
A smart city is a municipality, where digital technology and green-energy innovations are central to the provision of better services for residents and businesses. In an interview with The Sunday Mail, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe said they have made “tremendous progress on smart city development”. The identity of the new investors, he said, will be announced in due course to avoid jeopardising ongoing negotiations.
Plans are also underway to transform Chirundu into a smart city.
“By the end of this year, you will see a lot of activities in Melfort and Chirundu. Chirundu is going to be developed in the same manner Beitbridge was developed. There is the Chirundu Border Post development, and coupled to that is the entire housing delivery programme,” added Minister Garwe.
Other areas set to be developed into smart cities include Mt Hampden, where the new Parliament building has been constructed, and Figtree in Matabeleland South.
In Africa, Rwanda is one of the countries that has made progress in implementing the smart cities concept in parts of Kigali.
Smart innovations rolled out in Rwanda’s capital city include hosting offices of tech-hub companies, smart streetlights, air quality sensors, electric vehicles and public transport offering Wi-Fi connectivity.
