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(Bloomberg) — The African Union and a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte are considering backing a plan to develop as many as 123 new cities across Africa.
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The plan, developed by Cape Town-based Africa123, envisions building cities over the next two decades at a cost of up to $150 billion. The goal is to close a continent-wide housing deficit, with the World Bank projecting that 216 million people in sub-Saharan Africa will live in shanty towns by 2063.
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Under the plan, Africa123 plans to incorporate designs that include sustainable energy and water supply as well as transportation infrastructure, education, health and employment opportunities. The African Union Development Agency is in talks to develop a pilot project with the company and the programs will include providing housing loans through arrangements with financiers.
“We love the software,” said Kosi Tulasi, AUDA’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, in an interview. He said it “brings education, health and employment together in one shop”.
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The capitals of many African nations – like Harare in Zimbabwe or Luanda in Angola – were built by former colonial powers for a much smaller population. Today, authorities are struggling to keep up with the provision of services to cities that have been subjected to an unplanned spread for decades as people move to urban areas in search of work.
“We expect that there will be 3 billion people on the continent by 2063 and that 150 million families will need housing and adequate housing,” said Gita Goven, President of Africa123. “The ability to continue to engage with those cities and try to revive and expand the city has exhausted itself.”
Africa123 proposes to build new, better-planned cities to provide housing and other amenities, starting with three settlements in Ghana. Land has been secured for these, and the plan is to build 800,000 housing units to house 3 million people.
“We are assisting with funding requests” for projects, “we support the concept of sustainable cities” and can support future projects under the programme, said John Anderson, chief operating officer of SMEC Holdings Ltd.’s Africa division.
SMEC is a global infrastructure advisory firm owned by a unit of Singapore’s Temasek, which has a portfolio of approximately $300 billion.