The first city in Kenya is trying to tackle Africa’s urbanization problem while being poor

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KIAMBU, Kenya (AP) – Turn to Tatu City on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and it feels like you’re entering a different world.

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Even the country’s most reckless drivers are changing, slowing down and not throwing litter out the window – thanks to surveillance cameras and tough penalties for speeding and littering.

For the 5,000 people who moved to Tatu, the “first town” that welcomed its first residents four years ago, the brutal lifting of such laws makes the place attractive.

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“Tatu has more law and order than other places,” says Valerie Akoko, a digital content creator who moved here two years ago. “I have never seen Tatu City so dirty.”

Located on 5,000 hectares, Tatu City aspires to be what its name suggests: a city, privately owned, that its designers hope will eventually have a population of 250,000. It is now home to 88 businesses employing 15,000 people. They include CCI Global, which operates a 5,000-seat call center, and Zhende Medical, a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

There are similar projects around the world. But in sub-Saharan Africa, proponents of the idea hope that the development of new cities can solve the continent’s problem of urban growth: While urban growth has pushed back poverty in some areas, the region has been an exception.

History shows that as people move to cities, productivity increases, wages rise, exports increase and the country becomes richer. But in Africa, urbanization rarely brings such economic changes.

In theory, Africa should succeed. The continent’s urban population is expected to grow by 900 million by 2050, according to the United Nations, more than the urban population of Europe and North America combined.

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But sub-Saharan Africa is urbanizing while still being poor.

“Towns and cities in Africa today do not have the tax base needed to invest in the urban infrastructure needed to meet the tsunami of people being added to their ranks in the short term,” said Kurtis Lockhart, director of the Africa Urban Lab, a research center at the African School of Economics in Zanzibar. .

Weak property rights and political tensions can make the problem worse.

Even Tatu City has been at war with Kenyan politicians and politically connected businessmen. In 2018, the International Court of Justice in London ruled in favor of the development’s international owner, Rendeavour, in a dispute with its former Kenyan partners, including a former central bank governor. The dispute delayed the development of the project for several years.

Last year, the head of Kenya’s Tatu City, Preston Mendenhall, took the unusual step of accusing the county governor where the development is based of fraud, saying he wanted land worth $33 million to approve his revised plan. The governor denied it and is suing Tatu City and Mendenhall for defamation. No decision has been made.

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Still, the case for building new cities, complete with new infrastructure, is compelling to some. The Charter Cities Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit, says that, if done right, such projects can boost growth, create jobs and “lift tens of millions of people out of poverty.” The center sees Tatu City as an example.

However, building new cities is difficult. Africa is full of failed projects.

A few have shown promise. The Angolan city of Quilamba, which began construction in 2002, is arguably the most successful, with a population of over 130,000. It was built by CITIC, a Chinese state-owned company, but owned by the Angolan government.

Perhaps a dozen new urban projects – from Zanzibar to Zambia – underway in Africa have a chance to emulate Quilamba, experts think. Of these, Tatu is the farthest, with 26,400 people already living, working or studying there.

Experts agree that the private sector must play a role in the development of African cities, saying that African countries are too financially strapped to close the investment gap themselves. Rendeavour, a private company with a multi-billion dollar balance sheet, has pockets deep enough to make a difference.

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But leaving urban development to the private sector alone can cause problems, for example by increasing inequality. The average price of a property in Eko Atlantic, a new urban development on the outskirts of Lagos, is $415,000, which is beyond the means of most Nigerians.

“Start-up cities can act as centers of innovation and reduce pressure on congested urban areas,” said Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the UN’s Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat. “However, in order to have an impact, they must prioritize inclusiveness, affordability and integration with existing urban areas, ensuring that they serve all socio-economic groups rather than being isolated villages.”

A one-bedroom apartment in Tatu City sells for $45,500, still beyond the reach of most Kenyans, but within reach of some in the emerging middle class. Kenya’s GDP per capita was $1,961 in 2023, according to the World Bank.

This development is in collaboration with the Kenyan government, which has designated Tatu City as a special economic zone. That means companies that set up there are eligible for tax breaks and other incentives, making it an example of a private-public partnership, experts say.

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Tatu City also appeals to businesses and residents with its transparent governance structure and services often lacking elsewhere in Kenya, including water supply and a power grid. It comes under national law but can set its own rules on issues such as traffic and what kind of houses can be built, with all plans requiring approval from Tatu’s management.

“If you look at the infrastructure, if you look at the services, if you look at the regulatory things, if you look at the security, they are the best,” said Sylvester Njuguna, who lives and owns a restaurant there.

Unlike many early towns built far from urban centers, Tatu City is 12 kilometers (19 miles) north of Nairobi, close enough to connect to its labor markets.

According to Lockhart and Africa Urban Lab, new city projects tend to succeed if they are close enough to a major urban center and include both a high-quality tenant – CCI Global in the case of Tatu City – and good schools. They must work under effective management and respond to market demand.

Tatu meets these criteria and, unlike many well-conceived African city projects, has grown as self-sustaining as Rendeavour’s city projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Congo, according to Mendenhall.

“We build what the market needs,” he said. “We don’t put all the infrastructure in place on day one.”

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