water, waste, public transit and communications
such as fiber-optic cable—will be accomplished
through public-private partnerships.
The city is being implemented in phases, allowing
time to address challenges like funding, timelines
and investors. In addition, a master plan for the
entire city helps keep the project’s goal clear.
Still, the team has met some obstacles—and others likely lie ahead. As project sponsors recognize,
the city will result in the loss of natural habitat and
the displacement and disturbance of wildlife. To
minimize that negative impact—and offset potential objections from public stakeholders—the team
will create a 2.4-square-mile ( 6.2-square-kilometer)
wildlife corridor.
In addition, an in-progress water and sanitation project had to be redesigned to accommodate
Konza’s estimated water needs of 100 million liters
( 26. 4 million gallons) each day. To ensure those
needs will be met, the team must create boreholes
to provide around 2 million liters (528,000 gallons)
per day. PM
Kenya is pursuing what it hopes will be its answer to U.S. tech hub Silicon Val- ley: Konza Techno City, or what’s being called Silicon Savanna. Near Nairobi,
the city will rise from 7. 7 square miles ( 20 square
kilometers) of African grasslands over the next 20
years—and aims to attract about 200,000 IT jobs.
The US$14.5 billion project is a flagship initiative
in Vision 2030, the government program to make
Kenya a globally competitive country by 2030.
In October, the project team began constructing the preliminary access roads and Kenya Power
started laying power lines. By building 35,000
homes as well as schools, hotels and hospitals,
the development authority intends to entice IT-related businesses and jobs. While the govern-ment-backed authority is overseeing the project,
infrastructure components—including power,
Konza Techno City, Kenya
CASE STUDY / City on the Horizon
Two artist renderings of
Konza Techno City
