The wildlife capital of the world, Kenya, is all set to welcome a brand new technology hub-the "Konza Techno City". Plans for the construction of the $14.5 billion project were revealed by Mwai Kibaki, President of Kenya on January 23, 2013.
Konza, also nicknamed "Africa's Silicon Savannah," will be located 37 miles south-east of the country's capital, Nairobi. Currently, the place is a barren 5000 acre Savannah that only has one highway in the area, reports Borgen Project.
The city will take around 20 years to be completed and is a part of Kenya's "Vision 2030". All the political parties have unanimously backed the project and have high hopes about its success, reports BBC News.
The project plans include a compact, semi-circular grassland area . It will have a central business district along with hospitals and schools. Around 35,000 homes, hotels, convention centers, churches and mosques are on the anvil as well. To the north and the south of the city, two tech parks and a science park will be built, reports Gizmag.
According to Gizmag, the city will be constructed in four phases, the first phase of which is expected to run until 2017. The city will also provide excellent communication infrastructure. The government plans on connecting Konza city by state owned railways between Malaba and Mombasa as well.
The government hopes that when the project is completed by 2030, the city will spawn around 200,000 jobs giving a boost to the country's economy. A number of tech companies have already started flowing into the country, and the city will only boost the influx, reports BBC news.
"It is expected to spur massive trade and investment as well as create thousands of employment opportunities for young Kenyans in the ICT (information communications technology) sector," Kibaki said at the project-launch ceremony.
