Leaders from across public and private sector and civil society organizations came together in Nairobi today to discuss how advanced technologies can help the city to deal with some of the most pressing issues of urbanization ­ such as traffic congestion, parking, emergency response and the reliability of energy and water supplies.
Nairobi ­ the second most populous city in East Africa after Addis Ababa is set to see its population double over the next decade bringing with it a wide range of challenges in key areas such as transportation, utilities, safety and security and urban planning.
The Nairobi Smarter Cities Roundtable, organized by IBM, is one of the first gatherings of its kind in Africa - centered on how private and public sectors can work together to lay the foundations to transform Nairobi into a smarter and more efficient city.

With one out of every two Kenyans set to be living in cities by 2030, the single biggest challenge facing Kenyan cities is how to manage and harmonize our city systems, said Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Information and Communication. Better functioning cities not only help to increase the standard of living for their citizens, but also increase their global competitiveness and support economic development.

According to Dr. Ndemo, while there are a number of innovative smarter city initiatives in Kenya at the moment like Konza and Tatu cities, the single largest urban challenge facing Kenya is Nairobi as it continues to attract new inhabitants and investors alike. Addressing these challenges now is vital to supporting Nairobi¹s development as an African economic and business hub, said Dr. Ndemo.

A city is basically a system of systems, and can benefit from the latest technologies and processes from other areas such as manufacturing, supply chain management and the service industries to ensure that things function and flow as they should do, said Anthony Mwai, IBM Country General Manager for East Africa. ³IBM has over 2,000 smarter city projects from the past two years to draw on and is keen to bring that experience to bear in Nairobi.

As an example, Mr. Mwai added that IBM is beginning conversations with telecommunication companies in Nairobi about how mobile phone signal density could be used to pinpoint and predict traffic jams in the city and assist the police in re-directing traffic.

The round table session was moderated by noted financial analyst Aly-Khan Satchu and was attended by high level policy makers and CEOs from a number of sectors including: Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary for Information; Eddy Njoroge, Managing Director, KENGEN; Wolfgang Fengler, Chief Economist at the World Bank; Steven Oundo, Architectural Society of Kenya; local entrepreneur Esther Passaris and IDC analyst Francis Hook amongst others.

Notable statistics include:  Current number of people living in cities in Kenya - 6.1 million; Expected number of people to be living in cities in Kenya by 2030 - 12.1 million; Nairobi currently contributes 60% of GDP, expected to rise to 70% ; in 2030 63% of the population of Kenya will move to urban areas in the next 10 years; Percentage of people in Kenya currently living in cities -  3% of population ; Traffic costs Nairobi city residents KES 50 million a day; 61% of Nairobi commuters believe traffic negatively affects their work, family and health ( IBM Commuter Pain Survey) ; 9 out of 10 calls to emergency services in Nairobi go unanswered; There are 18 car-jackings in Nairobi every week, most are never solved; Only 42% of households in Nairobi have water connections, half lose supply to illegal connections (Nairobi Water); Every month, Nairobi suffers from 11,000 high voltage fluctuations and power outages; One of out every three businesses in Nairobi will be burgled this year (KK Security).

The final outcomes from the round table discussion will be shared with the wider public in a white paper and film later this year.