Indien har sin IT-hovedstad, Bangalore, nu skal Afrika også have en og Østafrikas største økonomi har affyret startskuddet til opførelsen af “Konza Technology City”, som skal stå helt klar efter 2030 – vil koste milliarder.
Kenya’s president has launched a 14,5 billion US dollar project to build a new city intended to be an IT business hub and dubbed “Africa’s Silicon Savannah”, BBC online reports Wednesday.
It will take 20 years to build Konza Technology City about 60 km from the capital, Nairobi. It is hoped that more than 20.000 IT jobs will be created in Konza by 2015, and more than 200.000 jobs by 2030.
Konza is part of the government’s ambitious Vision 2030 initiative to improve much-neglected infrastructure over the next 18 years. The government also wants to take advantage of the growing number of software developers in the East African nation.
The 2.011-hectare site is a ranch to the south-east of Nairobi on the way to the port city of Mombasa at the coast of the Indian Ocean.
According to the Konza information website (http://www.konzacity.co.ke), the city wants to attract business process outsourcing, software development, data centres, disaster recovery centres, call centres and light assembly manufacturing industries.
A university campus focused on research and technology as well as hotels, residential areas, schools and hospitals will also be built.
The government has appointed the Konza Technopolis Development Authority to oversee the building of the IT hub, which will be built in four phases – starting with the technology centres first, BBC notes.
