In Tatu City in the vicinity of the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, the visitor feels as if he is entering a different world.
Even the most careless drivers are changing their behavior, slowing down and not throwing rubbish out of the car window - thanks to surveillance cameras and rigorous fines for speeding and littering.
For the 5.000 people who moved to Tata - a "startup city" that welcomed its first residents four years ago - strict adherence to such rules makes the place attractive.
"Tatu has more regulations and order than others," said Valeri Akoko, a digital content creator who moved in two years ago. "I have never seen Tatu Siti dirty".
Set on 2.500 hectares, Tatu City aspires to be a privately owned city that its planners hope will eventually have a population of 250.000. It is already home to 88 companies employing 15.000 people. Among them are CCI Global, which operates a call center employing 5.000 people, and "Zhende Medical", a Chinese medical equipment manufacturer.
Similar projects exist around the world. But in sub-Saharan Africa, they hope that the development of new cities can solve the problem of urbanization on the continent: growing poverty.
Around the world, as people move to cities, productivity rises, wages rise, exports rise and the country becomes richer. But in Africa, urbanization is rare.
In theory, Africa should prosper. According to United Nations data, the urban population of that continent will increase by 900 million by 2050 and be larger than the current urban population of Europe and North America combined.
But sub-Saharan Africa is urbanizing and remains poor.
"Towns and cities in Africa today simply lack the tax base needed to invest in the urban infrastructure needed to accommodate the 'tsunami' of people moving in over a short period of time," said Kurtis Lockhart, director of the African Urban Lab, a research center at the African School of Economics in Zanzibar. .
Weak property rights and political tensions can exacerbate the problem.
Even Tatu Siti fought against Kenyan politicians and politically connected businessmen. In 2018, the London Court of International Arbitration ruled in favor of the multinational owner of the "Rendeavor" project in a dispute with former Kenyan partners, including the former governor of the central bank. The dispute delayed the development of the project for the creation of that city for several years.
Last year, Tatu City Kenya's head of government, Preston Mendenhall, took the unusual step of accusing the governor of the county where the development is based of extortion, saying he had demanded $33 million worth of land in exchange for approval of an updated master plan. The governor denied this and is suing Tata City and Mendenhall for defamation. A decision is pending.
Nevertheless, the argument for building new cities is convincing to some. The Charter Cities Institute, a non-profit organization based in Washington, United States of America (USA), argues that if done right, such projects could spur growth, create jobs and lift tens of millions of people out of poverty. The Institute sees Tata City as a model.
However, building new cities is difficult. Africa is full of failed projects.
A few are doing well. The Angolan city of Kilamba, whose construction began in 2002, is probably the most successful, with more than 130.000 inhabitants. It was built by CITIC, a state-owned Chinese company, but is owned by the Angolan state.
A dozen new city projects from Zanzibar to Zambia are underway in Africa and have a chance to emulate Kuilamba, according to experts. Of these, Tatu is the largest, with 26.400 people living, working or studying there.
Experts agree that the private sector must play a role in Africa's urbanisation, as countries there are too fiscally constrained to fill the investment gap on their own. But Rendeavour, a private company with a multi-billion dollar balance sheet, has deep enough pockets to make it happen.
However, leaving the construction of the city to the private sector alone can cause problems, for example by exacerbating inequality. The average price of a property in "Eko Atlantic", a new township on the outskirts of Lagos, is $415.000, well beyond the means of most Nigerians.
"Startup cities can be hubs for innovation and relieve pressure on overcrowded urban centers," said Anaclaudia Rosbach, executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme - UN Habitat. "However, to have an impact, they must prioritize inclusiveness, accessibility and integration with existing urban areas, ensuring that they serve all socioeconomic groups and not become isolated enclaves for the elite," she pointed out.
A one-bedroom apartment in Tatu City sells for $45.500, which is more than most Kenyans can afford, but well within the reach of the emerging middle class. Kenya's GDP per capita was $1.961 in 2023, according to the World Bank.
The development is supported by the government of Kenya, which declared Tatu City a special economic zone. This means that companies established there are entitled to tax breaks and other incentives, which makes the city a model of private-public partnership, experts say.
Tatu City attracts businesses and residents with its transparent management structure and services not found elsewhere in Kenya, including its own water supply and power grid. It falls under state regulations, but can introduce its own rules on issues such as traffic and what kind of houses can be built, and all plans need approval from Tatu management.
"If you look at the infrastructure, if you look at the utilities, if you look at the controls, if you look at the security, it's all among the best," said Silvester Njuguna, who lives there and owns a restaurant.
Unlike many "startup cities" built far from urban centers, Tatu City is 20 kilometers north of Nairobi, close enough to tap into the large job market there.
According to Lockhart of the African Urban Lab, new city projects tend to succeed if they are close enough to a major urban center and have high-quality anchor tenants - CCI Global in the case of Tatu City, and good schools. Those new herds should have efficient management and respond to market demand.
Tatu meets those criteria and, unlike many grandiose African city projects, has grown organically like other Rendezvous city projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Congo, according to Mendenhall.
"We build what the market needs, but gradually, not everything from day one," he said.
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