“Smart city” to be built in Marracuene

The Executive Director of “Uxene Smart City”, Henrique Bettencourt, presenting the project in Maputo on Tuesday, said it will be set up on an area of 610 hectares, and will accommodate over 100,000 inhabitants.

Bettencourt said 179.2 hectares will be occupied by housing, 105 hectares by the road network, 59.6 hectares by a golf course, and 43 hectares by an ecological park. The logistics park will cover 23 hectares, while a commercial centre will occupy 20.7 hectares. 11 hectares will be reserved for a future university campus.

“Uxene Smart City will have a fire brigade, a university with up to 9,000 students, a general hospital (with up to 150 beds), a police station, a housing area, a business centre, a logistics park, a golf course, an ecological park, and green spaces for leisure”, said Bettencourt.

Speaking to over 900 guests, including government members, diplomats, business people and journalists, he said it is intended to build a “smart” city, in that it will prioritise the use of renewable energies. To this end, a solar power station will be installed.

Betttencourt said the first phase of the project will be launched on 29 May 2023. This phase is budgeted at 600 million dollars and will take five years to build. Primacy will be given to the logistics park which will serve, not only Uxene, but also the surrounding communities.

Bettencourt said his company is relying on several partners, including the mobile phone company Vodacom, the Higher Polytechnical Institute of Mozambique (ISCTEM), the transport operator Metro Bus, and the government’s Water Supply Assets and Investment Fund (FIPAG).

Among the foreign partners involved are the Chinese companies China Railway 4, Huawei and Gregori International. During the ceremony, Uxene Smart City signed memorandums of understanding with 11 partners.

The chairperson of the Board of Directors of Uxene Smart City, Michel Ussene, said it would be “a city within a city”, as part of the Maputo Greater Metropolitan Area. He described it as “a new African rebirth”, aimed at humanized and intelligent urban development for the 21st century.

“We are building the Africa of tomorrow!”, Ussene declared.

The Marracuene district administrator, Shafee Sidat, said the executive welcomes the project, since it will drive the economic and social development of the district, and will help accommodate Marracuene’s rapid population growth. Sidat said the population of Marracuene grew from 230,000 in 2019 to 274,000 this year.

Over a period of 15 years, it is expected that Uxene Smart City will create 6,500 jobs directly, and 20,000 indirectly.
(AIM)