An aerial view of Nairobi, capital city of Kenya (HELLORF)

It's one of the most breathtaking architectural designs in Mauritius, and a magnet for wedding ceremonies, art shows and entertainment. The Eden Garden complex, located in the heart of the Jinfei Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, is a futuristic blend of technology, triangular and symmetrical patterns that dazzles visitors and locals alike on this Indian Ocean island off the East African coast.

The Jinfei zone is the first smart city developed in Mauritius as part of a partnership with China. Starting from 2014, the government of Mauritius put in place its own Smart City Scheme, an ambitious economic development initiative aimed at strengthening the local financial center by creating ideal conditions for working and living, and stimulating investment across the island.

Mauritius' aspiration for having its very own smart city has been realized. And this has been made possible through mobilizing strategic capital, leveraging technological advances and learning from China's precious expertise in this field.

Sharing expertise

Across Mauritius, the name Jinfei is well known. The Jinfei zone is located 3.5 km from Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, and covers an area of 211 hectares. It is one of the first eight economic and trade cooperation zones build overseas with the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

So far, the smart city of Jinfei is the first and the only China-led smart city project on the African continent. "The city is focused on the development of the tertiary sector, such as finance, tourism and logistics. The total investment in the Jinfei zone amounts to about $1 billion, which makes it one of the largest projects using Chinese investment in Mauritius," said Yang Changhe, General Manager of the Jinfei zone.

In addition to infrastructure, technology also plays an essential role in the development of a smart city. The Chinese company Lighthouse Network Technology, also based in Mauritius, has combined and leveraged several existing digital technologies during the construction of the Jinfei smart city.

"We have used cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data, mobile Internet, and many other critical technologies. The African continent is growing fast and the Internet Plus is already integrated in many sectors. It is necessary to directly include the latest and most mature technologies in all projects at a lower cost," said Guan Rong, President of Lighthouse Network Technology, at the Africa Investment Meeting, held on October 22 in Beijing.

"Over the past four years, the development of smart cities in China has been booming. For example, Tongzhou District of Beijing has put in place a platform of integrated digital technology applications. We want to apply our experience to the construction of smart African cities according to local needs," he told ChinAfrica.

Currently, more and more Chinese companies in the field of information and communication technologies are taking part in the construction of smart cities across Africa. In 2018, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei confirmed $1.5 billion in global funding to support the development of smart city infrastructure, with a particular focus on projects on the African continent.

As a matter of fact, Huawei already has vast expertise in this field, particularly when it comes to resolving traffic jams in Hangzhou, a major city in east China. On the African continent, Huawei has already deployed smart technologies in a number of cities in Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana. More recently, the company continues to promote the building of smart cities in Africa by focusing on strengthening environmental sustainability.

According to Adam Lane, Senior Director of Public Affairs at Huawei's Kenyan branch, smart technologies can be used by African cities to better control the use of their environmental resources, as well as improve their communications and public security.

Smart urbanization

According to the United Nations, Africa is currently experiencing rapid urbanization rates. By 2050, Africa's population will reach 2.4 billion, twice the population of 2016. It is no surprise that experts see smart cities as a solution to better cope with this wave of accelerated urbanization.

"The concept of smart cities will play a crucial role in Africa's urban revolution and urbanization," said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the Smart City Expo, held in Doha, Qatar, in October this year.

In fact, smart cities are flourishing across the continent, as illustrated by Eko Atlantic in Lagos, Nigeria; Hope and King City in Ghana; Vision City in Kigali, Rwanda; Konza Technological City, Kenya's new technology hub, and Waterfall City in South Africa.

And the trend shows no sign of slowing down. "On October 7, in front of African Union leaders, our company officially launched five smart city projects in five African cities. I hope that Chinese companies will also be able to take part in these projects," said Reda Rami, President of Winvestnet, a technology platform dedicated to African investment, during the Africa Investment Meeting.

"The project is open to all investors. This time, the focus is on China, because we know that it already has a rich know-how in this field, and that Chinese investors have reached a level of maturity that allows them to invest in Morocco and export their products to African countries," Mahassine El Rhermoul of the Moroccan Investment Development Agency told ChinAfrica. According to her, a Moroccan delegation visited China a few years ago, visiting smart cities and logistics areas.

"The Africa Investment Meeting was held to encourage Chinese companies to come and invest in Africa, by bringing together all kinds of Chinese companies in a variety of fields such as infrastructure, finance, technology and construction. It is an intergovernmental project, with a public-private partnership, which should take five years," said Reda Rami.

As an example of such cooperation, LLVision, a Chinese company involved in artificial intelligence and augmented reality, has signed a strategic contract with Winvestnet. "Our products first entered the African market last year. This year, we have made a relatively significant step forward. We now have cooperation with Zambia, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco and Egypt, both at government and company levels. Winvestnet has also purchased some of our equipment for the construction of the smart city in Morocco," Lucia Lu, LLVision's International Sales Manager, told ChinAfrica.

(Comments to glj@chinafrica.cn)