lavish villas, opulent townhouses, cutting-edge workplaces, beautifully landscaped gardens, and a 15-story business tower. These aren’t the designs for the newest construction project in Dubai; rather, they’re for a metropolis in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare’s suburbs.
The project is moving on despite having some of the highest unemployment and inflation rates in the world, a crippling currency crisis, and a decline in foreign direct investment.
Investors and Zimbabwe are optimistic about its possibilities.
“This Cybercity is to be a key feature that will bring added value to our new city here. The development around the year for the smart city on 15,500 acres will be the smartest city in our region,” says Emmerson Mnangagwa, president of Zimbabwe.
Authorities see the Mount Hampden region, 26 kilometers northwest of Harare, as the new capital city or the New Harare, and the futuristic Cybercity will serve as its focal point.
Mulk International, an industrial conglomerate located in the United Arab Emirates, is building Zimbabwe Cyber City, which is expected to cost $500 million.
“We’ve been trying to bring the Dubai standard of living to this particular development. The project will have high-end villas, we call them Zim Hills, surrounding water bodies. We will have a very tall tower with the shopping center,” says Shaji ul Mulk, Mulk International chairman.
According to government officials, additional government buildings will be constructed on Mount Hampden to consolidate administration in the envisioned “New Harare.”
According to officials and investors, the cyber metropolis of the future will give the envisioned new capital a contemporary commercial feel.
A gated community will surround the project, which will span 2.5 million square meters of land and contain 250 homes, more than 80 luxurious villas, several apartment buildings, high-tech office spaces, a 15-story commercial tower, and landscaped gardens.
“The investment by the UAE (United Arab Emirates) investor in the Smart City Project is quite instrumental from the economic development point of view,” says Batanai Matsika, head of research, Morgan & Co.
“So of course we expect businesses to benefit, local businesses to benefit out of that employment creation and the development of basic infrastructure. We are seeing a huge infrastructure gap in Zimbabwe and we think that those kinds of investments would actually catapult us in reaching our vision 2030 objectives to be a middle-income nation.”
In response to the slowness brought on by the coronavirus, the overall exodus of investors as a result of decades of western sanctions, political unrest, inconsistent policies, and persistent economic issues, Zimbabwe is working to increase foreign direct investment.
Data from the UN Conference on Trade and Development show that foreign direct investment inflows decreased to $194 million in 2020 from $745 million in 2018, before the start of COVID-19.
Once finished, the new city would offer respite for consumers and businesses by relocating them outside of the congested CBD of Harare.
