Smart cities summit a learning opportunity for Zimbabwe

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GLOBAL Renaissance Investments (GRI) says Zimbabwe has an opportunity to draw lessons from the African Smart Cities Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa next month.
The annual conference, to be held from June 26 to 30 in the neighbouring country, explores how smart cities can deliver a quality life and enable economic growth through the Internet of Things (IoT), technology and creative thinking.
A smart city is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business.
GRI, which is part of the organisers of the summit, said local municipalities, construction companies, government departments and entrepreneurs should attend the high-profile conference that will tackle Africa’s readiness to fully adopt smart methodologies for implementation in current infrastructure.

“Zimbabwean traditional cities have an opportunity to leverage their existing infrastructure and transform into smart cities.
“Most of our cities and towns have a lot of the essential infrastructure that forms a solid base for a smart city conversion, including high levels of smartphone penetration, high-speed fibre networks, and solar power among other things,” said GRI chief executive, Ngoni Dzirutwe.
He further indicated that smart cities go beyond the use of digital technologies for better resource use and less emissions.
“It means smarter urban transport networks, upgraded water supply and waste disposal facilities and more efficient ways to light and heat buildings. It also means a more interactive and responsive city administration, safer public spaces and meeting the needs of an ageing population,” he said.
The 2023 African Smart Cities Summit comes at a time when Zimbabwe is working on establishing two smart cities in Melfort and in Mt Hampden.
The country recently launched its smart city blueprint “The Zimbabwe Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative”, which lists access to clean water, beautification of the city, improved health delivery, and the establishment of sufficient public transport as some of the objectives to create smart cities.
The smart city development initiative is expected to solve developmental challenges affecting the country in terms of housing, infrastructure development, and improving the residents’ social status, including economic opportunities.
The concepts will also decongest the big cities and address the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and foster inclusive development as espoused in the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy, the National Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030.
Dzirutwe indicated that smart cities will focus on data-driven and connected infrastructure, which will lead to higher adoption of technologies like Artificial Intelligence and 5G, leading to increased spending towards technology.
“The first building block of any smart city is reliable, pervasive wireless connectivity. The advent of 5G technology is expected to be a watershed event that propels smart city technology into the mainstream and accelerates new deployments through the IoT,” he said.