Zimpapers Logo

Golden Sibanda
Zimbabwe expects its participation at the just ended Expo 2020 Dubai Smart City Conference to unlock investment into smart projects of local authorities, as the country seeks to harness the power of latest technologies to address urban challenges as well as develop smart cities, a Cabinet Minister said.

This was said by Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo while addressing delegates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the weekend.

The Minister, who led the Zimbabwe delegation to the conference held on Sunday, October 14, 2021, said the objectives of the country’s participation in the indaba resonated with overall Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition theme “A Land of Great Opportunities”.

Zimbabwe is one of the 192 countries from across the globe that are taking part at Expo 2020 Dubai, which kicked off on October 1, 2021 and runs until March 31, 2022. As such, the smart city and innovations conference was held in the context of the six-months long global exhibition.

Participants who attended the Dubai Smart Conference were drawn from representatives of 32 urban local authorities and among cities that seconded officials to the exhibition were Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Kadoma and Gwanda.

“The Smart City Conference and exhibition seeks to explore the investment opportunities through encouraging dialogue and cooperation among stakeholder, as well as court and engage investors and development partners.

“With technological growth on the rise, the exhibition (focussed) on the Smart City Concept for local authorities showcased in 6 key areas, that is smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment and smart living,” the Minister said.

He said the smart city concept was key in attending to various challenges that urban local authorities faced and the advantage of modern day technologies presented an edge in the growth trajectory of local authorities and nation at large.

Minister Moyo said Zimbabwe’s participation at the smart city conference in Dubai would amplify traction towards the implementation of the long term smart city concept solutions for the country, which will be harnessed through a unified front.

Zimbabwe, through the smart city expo, sought to attract investors and development partners for implementation of smart city projects in the country. Zimbabwe showcased local authority projects and sought to understand how smart cities work.

“We are committed to working with the United Arab Emirates, we think we have very good relations between the leadership here including our President.

“As local authorities and the Minister responsible for local authorities, we thought it was very important (to attend the smart city conference) because Dubai is well known for building smart cities; for real estate development and for the built up environment.

“This is an area we think we can learn as much as we can. So, we brought a team, we wanted to showcase what  we are doing in Zimbabwe in terms of urban development and creation of smart cities, which we adopted in 2018.

“Our President is very keen to make sure that we do not only build new smart cities, but we also look at the old cities that have been built without thinking of a smart city, without thinking of good livelihood. . . and we are now doing urban regeneration; urban renewal, so that we catch up with our vision of creating smart cities.

“So, we are saying to the international community, there is an opportunity to come and invest in Zimbabwe, in smart cities. We have a new city which is coming up with more than 18 000 hectares,” he said.

Minister Moyo pointed out that Zimbabwe was susceptible to droughts and cyclones, as such, he said the country’s consciousness about the environment was high, adding that in urban areas the country was looking at better ways of managing waste material.

“From here I am going to another country where we are partnering to have waste to energy (interventions) as a way of making smart cities. Also in the regeneration of cities, we are working with UN agencies such as UNDP to make sure that we clean up our river systems that run through cities.

“We do this in order to reduce greenhouse emissions by investing in the reduction of greenhouse gasses in the urban areas.

“Furthermore, in terms of gas emissions of our cars, we are looking at a framework so that they can use electricity so that we reduce (greenhouse gas emissions).

“Our President, who was at COP26 in Scotland has already made those commitments and we will be working on them, not only nationally, but in the cities as we grow these smart cities,” he said.

Zimbabwe also took the opportunity to sensitise investors on the available opportunities in the country, as this related to attaining smart cities status.

Minister Moyo said expected results from Zimbabwe’s participation at the Dubai Smart Conference included increased investment in local authority projects, agreements on technical assistance, better understanding of Zimbabwe’s smart city initiative.

Further, the country sought to achieve improved understanding of its investment framework and twining arrangements between Zimbabwe’s local authorities and UAE municipalities.

City of Harare public relations director Michael Chideme said the capital city was already implementing a number of smart city initiatives, which saw it installing solar power systems at all city health clinics to reduce greenhouse emissions.

“We are also working on our street lighting, (to reduce gas emissions), we are putting solar systems for all our street lighting to reduce pressure on the national grid.

“Further to that, we are also making sure that all developments in the city have smart connections, connected to the internet, connected to WIFI; we are also having  smart parking in the city.

“So, there are a lot of solutions that the city of Harare is implementing in line with the vision of a smart city. At our water treatment plants, we are also considering the use of solar energy so that we reduce the use of (hydroelectricity).

“On traffic lights, we are also going solar, so that we reduce hydro electricity and coal as well,” Mr Chideme said.