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Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE expects its participation at the just ended Expo 2020 Dubai Smart City Conference to unlock investment into smart projects of local authorities, as the country seeks to harness the power of latest technologies to address urban challenges as well as develop smart cities, a Cabinet Minister said.

Local Government and Public Works Minister, July Moyo, said this while addressing delegates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the weekend.

The minister, who led the Zimbabwe delegation to the conference held on Sunday, October 14, 2021, said the objectives of the country’s participation in the indaba resonated with overall Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition theme “A Land of Great Opportunities”.

Zimbabwe is one of 192 countries from across the globe that are taking part at Expo 2020 Dubai, which kicked off on October 1, 2021 and runs until March 31, 2022. The smart city and innovations conference was held in the context of the six months long global exhibition.

Participants who attended the Dubai smart conference were drawn from representatives of 32 urban local authorities and among cities that seconded officials to the exhibition were Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Kadoma and Gwanda.

“The Smart City Conference and exhibition seeks to explore the investment opportunities through encouraging dialogue and co-operation among stakeholders, as well as court and engage investors and development partners,” said Minister Moyo.

“With technological growth on the rise, the exhibition (focused) on the Smart City Concept for local authorities showcased in six key areas, that is smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment and smart living.”

He said the smart city concept was key in attending to various challenges that urban local authorities faced and the advantage of modern-day technologies presented an edge in the growth trajectory of local authorities and nation at large.

Minister Moyo said Zimbabwe’s participation at the smart city conference in Dubai would  amplify traction towards the implementation of the long-term smart city concept solutions for the country, which will be harnessed through a unified front.

Zimbabwe, through the smart city expo, sought to attract investors and development partners for implementation of smart city projects in the country.

The country showcased local authority projects and sought to understand how smart cities work.

“We are committed to working with the United Arab Emirates, we think we have very good relations between the leadership here and our President, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa,” said Minister Moyo.

“As local authorities and the minister responsible for local authorities, we thought it was very important (to attend the smart city conference) because Dubai is well known for building smart cities; for real estate development and for the built-up environment.

“This is an area we think we can learn as much as we can. So, we brought a team, we wanted to showcase what we are doing in Zimbabwe in terms of urban development and creation of smart cities, which we adopted in 2018.”

Minister Moyo said President Mnangagwa was very keen to making sure that Zimbabwe does not only build new smart cities, but looks at rehabilitating old cities as well.