The City of Kigali has invited investors to inject money into scaling up smart city solutions. The call was made during the opening of the Smart City Investment Summit in Kigali on Wednesday, September 6. The summit, themed "Leadership for Smart Cities”, brought together more than 1,000 participants.
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"There is a need for investment in easing the transport of goods and people, waste management, and service delivery in different sectors, among others. There are different solutions that need to be scaled up and, therefore, we brought together investors, financial institutions, and others to the summit to meet those who developed smart solutions,” said Pudence Rubingisa, the City of Kigali Mayor.
The smart solutions need to scale up given that Kigali’s population is projected to be more than three million by 2030, an increase from 1.7 million currently, according to the fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census (RPHC5).
Different solutions were exhibited at the summit and 30 best-performing African cities with the most promising smart city solutions will be recognised in a smart city index to be released.
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The conversions are looking at solutions such as sustainable energy supply, affordable housing, construction technology and building materials, transportation and access to urban services, beating traffic and pollution, and green building.
The solutions also include sustainable water resources management, waste reduction, reuse and recycling, e-government, citizen participation, services, innovation and jobs of the future, disaster preparedness and resilience, smart urban agriculture and food systems, and nature-based solutions among others.
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During the summit, the Smart City Hub Rwanda was launched with the aim of shaping the cities of tomorrow.
"The hub will help coordinate our efforts to deliver smart solutions for the cities. The investors can access opportunities through the hub. Researchers and solutions developers can also meet through the hub,” Rubingisa noted.
Ozonnia Ojielo, the UN Resident Coordinator and Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Rwanda, commended the country for demonstrating visionary leadership and innovation with respect to e-government and shifting to digital and smart city development.
"The Smart City Hub we are launching today aligns with our country&039;s vision to test, scale, and promote cutting-edge solutions. We hope that through this hub, collaborations will emerge to support these solutions in transforming Rwanda into a smart city. Furthermore, the lessons learned can be shared with other African cities,” said Paula Musoni Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation.