We have been looking at Konza City for an extended period, and it would appear that the smart city is on a path to realize it promises that were first conceptualized at the start of the last decade.
We examined the smart city offering in an earlier, story, in which we also tracked the technopolis’s developments of the last few years.
For instance, the project is fast tracking some of its constructions, including the first phase of a data centre that has since been completed.
As we have come to understand, modern cities will be equipped with a greening initiative strategy. Konza will be doing the same thing, and has already started the plan to complement infrastructural facilities.
For housekeeping reasons, the first phase of the Konza City project was launched in 2014, and should be completed in 2020. The phase covered about 400 acres of the whole 5000 acres.
The first phase is also planned for a mixed-use community, which comprises of commercial, residential, retail, public and hospitality amenities, environmental conservation is a key development priority for the city.
Also, the plan is to develop a beautiful and unique city by maintaining a clean and green atmosphere.
The agenda is on greening Konza by planting appropriate species of trees on a series of open spaces and proposed parks that are part of the whole plan for the technopolis.
The strategy entails the establishment of a model tree nursery, where KoTDA plans to develop a smart tree nursery in the upcoming smart city to produce more than 1 million seedlings within 3 years.
In addition, the city plans to undertake tree-planting initiatives by collaborating with other partners to plant 10K tree seedlings every year for the next three years. The program will support crosscutting initiative for infrastructure development. A report from the city says that this will be achieved by populating city parks and other open spaces with appropriate trees and collaborating with the government and private sector agencies with expertise in environmental conservation to start research programs on urban environment conservation.
Furthermore, Konza seeks to adopt a tree program, where each young tree is adopted by a person who agrees to water and manage it over a period of between 3-5 years.
There is also a plan to implement the Agriculture Rules (Farm Forestry), 2009 that requires the promotion and maintenance of farm forest cover of at least 10 percent of every agricultural land holding and to preserve and sustain the environment in combating climate change and global warming.
Some of the partners that have agreed to support the program include the Safaricom Foundations, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), Equity Group Foundation and the KCB Foundation, to mention a few.
The greening initiative is also exploring the maximum potential of urban trees. It acknowledges that our climate is getting worse as a result of air pollution and urban heat island effect. To achieve a liveable smart city, the technopolis seeks to implement the greening program that will make the city’s climate resilient.
Finally, development and greening could join hand to contribute to sustainable development and smart growth for Konza.
Read More: Konza Technopolis Reiterates Bet on ICT To Build A Smart City for The Future
