Konza Technopolis Reiterates Bet on ICT To Build A Smart City for The Future

Konza Technopolis was presented as a city, which, upon completion, will leverage the offerings of ICT to bolster the efficiencies and quality of life of its residents.

It is also based on smart city initiatives that we have covered before. Among some of its main agendas toward meeting the ‘smart city’ goal include modern transport systems, power distribution, and a greening initiative strategy (more of this in a future story).

The start

For housekeeping reasons, the Konza Technopolis (KT) Feasibility study was performed sometime in 2011. Following the study, the Mastery Delivery Partner (MDP) 1 was procured, and among its deliverables included the KT Local Physical Development Plan or Master Plan that identified a 5000-acre piece of land for the development of Konza City Phase 1. This was done in 2012.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment report, which was prepared in line with the Master Plan (LPDP) was signed in 2014.

MDP 2 was procured in the same year, and its main guiding point was to develop the technopolis line with smart city principles.

An overall survey based on the plan was conducted in 2015. At that time, various parcels for development were demarcated.

Then in 2017, Phase 1 action area plan was revised to make room for various land uses that had not been included before, and this was key as it helped pave way for the start of the EPCF project that is still under implementation.

The smart city

Konza has always sought to use information technology to make everyday life easier for people who will live and work in the smart city. At the same time, the technopolis intends to maximize the use of resources.

The efforts directed to the development of Konza are in line with projections made by various organizations.

For instance, the UN predicts that near 70% of the world population will be living in urban setups by 2050. The implication here is that existing cities will face multiple challenges, ranging from environmental to economic.

To this end, if cities are constructed based on smart principles, then some of these challenges can be addressed. In fact, it has since been found out that smart city technologies can improve the quality of life by overcoming issues such as transport hassles, crime incidents, and health issues.

You can look at these offerings from a technology point of view. Key trends are being witnessed in the current world as they are helping develop spaces in which people and technology interact in an automated, connected, and intelligent manner.

The trends are what we have come to learn over the last couple of years, and they include applications in big data, artificial intelligence, and IoT. Konza seeks to leverage these trends to change the way people live in cities.

Current efforts

Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) has developed guidelines, often referred to as the Konza Smart Code to manage the development within the city.

In line with smart city principles, the Code ensures rational allocation of land for various use cases such as residential, education, technology, and commercial, to mention a few. The allocation takes advantage of digital technology to streamline and automate all processes resulting from urbanization.

Some of these processes include collecting data through IoT-base devices to allow real-time decision-making.

These include various urban fields like transportation management, smart environmental monitoring, smart health care services, smart water management including smart metering, smart energy, sustainability among others.

Sustainability angle

The technopolis is not only smart but also seeks to be a sustainable city.

The city says it has developed sustainability development guidelines to meet objectives and metrics for sustainable infrastructure and urban design.

Also, the efforts seek to serve as a basis for real estate parcel design as KoTDA enters into development agreements with other parties.

This move toward sustainability and smart spaces is among the many technologies that will be part and parcel of the city in its bid to transform how people live in cities of the future.