Eswatini: planning a new Eco-Green City to support the launch of an important agro-industrial project
The Urban and Municipal Development Fund of the African Development Bank is partnering with the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (ESWADE) to anticipate the urbanization of southern Eswatini, where a new irrigation project is expected to boost agriculture and related economic activities, attracting tens of thousands of workers.
On 8th of June, 2023, the African Development Bank’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund officially approved a 400.000 USD grant for the “Eswatini New Eco-Green City Masterplan.“ The Fund will support the planning of a new urban area in the Shiselweni region, where population and economic activities are expected to grow quickly.
The challenge is to accommodate the influx of workers stimulated by the growth of the agro-industrial complex. A well-planned new eco-city is expected to provide a high quality of services for people, stimulate economic diversification, create sustainable employment and reduce poverty in the area while safeguarding the environment.
The Shiselweni region, which faces the highest level of poverty in the country, has very suitable soil for agriculture but it is also the least humid in Eswatini with an annual precipitation of 500 mm per annum. Reducing drought vulnerability and developing economic activities is tagged as a priority for the government, which is planning the construction of three damns to enable irrigation. Called Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Project (MNWAP), the plan is driven by a value chain approach: agriculture diversification (horticulture, cotton, dry beans, oil crops…) will enable agro-processing, attract industries and workers.
The project includes the setting up of a special agro-processing zone, undertaken by the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (ESWADE), a public-private partnership. Approximately 100 000 job opportunities will be generated, calling for the accommodation of workers and their families to the area, thus creating the need for housing, health and education services among other amenities.
In this context, the Technical Assistance (TA) support requested from the African Development Bank will help provide designs and concept development and lay the ground for private sector involvement in terms of direct investment and PPP wherein the private sector will partner with Government to implement the holistic development plan and Eco City in particular.
Further studies are needed to design the Eco City and identify the non-agricultural development demand in the area, including but not limited to energy and transportation. The support from the Urban and Municipal Development Fund will be key to provide sound designs of an overall spatial development plan. More specifically, the technical assistance of the Fund is expected to deliver four key outputs:
- A Holistic Development Vision and Strategy detaining the government’s aims and objectives.
- A Spatial Development Plan for the new Eco City and the agro-processing zones linked to existing and future development initiatives, including maps showing all the related infrastructure and developments.
- A Master Plan for the Eco City holistic development, including sustainable infrastructure needs assessment, pre-feasibility studies and investment packaging to support downstream investments by the AfDB and other partners.
- A strategic environmental impact assessment and resettlement plan for the holistic development incorporating the Eco City and the Agro-processing zone and supporting infrastructure.
Once implemented, the project is expected to generate long term impacts with sustainable economic growth, creation of decent jobs and a livable climate-resilient low emission city able to attract talents. Linking closely agriculture, industrial and urban development, the project shows an original way how the African Development Bank cross-cutting approach can participate in economic diversification, poverty reduction, and balanced rural-urban development.