The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced a partnership with the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise on a new urban planning project.
Development Diaries reports that AfDB’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF), on 08 June, 2023, approved a grant of $400,000 to the ‘Eswatini New Eco-Green City Masterplan’ to support the planning of a new urban area in the Shiselweni region of the country.
According to the bank, the Shiselweni region of the country is where population and economic activities are expected to grow quickly over the next few years.
It is understood that the project is closely linked with the development of a transformative agro-industrial hub expected to boost economic activities and attract tens of thousands of workers.
‘The project includes the setting up of a special agro-processing zone, to be undertaken by the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (ESWADE), as a public-private partnership’, the bank said in a statement.
‘The project will generate approximately 100,000 jobs for workers, creating the need for housing, health and education services for workers and their families’.
The UMDF coordinator, Marcus Mayr, said, ‘Climate adaptation and mitigation approaches and solutions will be at the center of the urban planning, solutions and sector investment development’.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Eswatini is a country that is experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) shows that over 70 percent of the country’s total population relies on subsistence farming.
The fund, according to AfDB, is designed to assist with a development vision and strategy outlining the government’s aims and objectives.
Photo source: AfDB
