Mwale Medical and Technology City

Coordinates: 0°16′02.8″N 34°33′04.7″E / 0.267444°N 34.551306°E / 0.267444; 34.551306Mwale Medical and Technology City (commonly abbreviated as MMTC) is a community-owned sustainable metropolis located in , Kakamega, Kenya. It is centered around a large medical complex with a 5,000 patient capacity Hamptons Hospital, with a research and innovation park in the Plaza district. It also has a large industrial district anchored by a solar power plant. Three other districts have residential homes with a 36 hole golf course, a commercial shopping center with mall, supermarkets and hotels, and an airport district for evacuating patients to the hospital via a planned cable car. The city cost US $ 2 billion. It is "a golden standard for new green Cities' development worldwide."^[1] MMTC serves as a successful template for other new cities, including Akon City in Senegal, due to the way it has integrated and uplifted the local community and catalyzed economic growth in the region.

Mwale Medical and Technology City MMTC MMTC (Kenya)
Country	Kenya
County	Kakamega
Sub-county	Butere
Mission	2007-2012[2]
Founded	2014[3][4]
Founded by	Julius Mwale[5]
Government
• Type	Integrated Master Development Plan
• Body	Board of supervisors
Area
• Total	2,000 ha (5,000 acres)
Elevation	1,423 m (4,669 ft)

History[]

A feasibility study carried out from 2007 to 2012 established the site of a proposed medical tourism and technology city in western Kenya. The lead investor Julius Mwale, a Kenyan technology entrepreneur and investor based in the US, assembled a team of technology and healthcare experts and companies from the US and enlisted them for phase one of the city which commenced in 2014 and was completed in 2016.^[6]

The project cost is estimated at US $2 billion. Phase 1 began in 2014 and encompassed a multi-billion shopping and residential complex, Hamptons Mall, with Mwal-mart Supermarket as the anchor. The mall hosts Mwal-mart Supermarket, Hamptons Cafe bed and breakfast, showroom and more than 90,000 square feet of private residences. Phase two commenced in June 2016 and ran to September 2017. This included the first section of 5,000 bed referral hospital, over 70 kilometers of roads, and more than 300 solar street lights. Phase 2 also included the first phase of 4,800 homes expected to host doctors and nurses. The final phase, from September 2017 to December 2020, includes the 36-hole golf resort and residences, an airport with the second shopping mall, a convention center and a water park connected to the hospital by a cable car. It will also have medical school, a technology park and a 144-megawatt gasification power plant.^[7][8]

Since its initiation, MMTC has received widespread admiration from a majority of both local and foreign visitors who have toured the project. Unlike several similar high-end projects which have often been dogged with controversy in Kenya, MMTC has not experienced any major challenges which may have led to its suspension. The project's success has been attributed to its model of reaching out to locals (the Marama clan of the Luhya) within the project perimeter and establishing key contacts and relationships. This has seen most of them donate huge tracts of ancestral land to the project to benefit them and MMTC. In this scenario, their lives have been positively impacted since the poor families are blessed with newly constructed homes as well several rental units which act as residences for the ever-increasing number of project workers. MMTC has also created employment for over 1000 youths in the area. In return, the project has received key backing from these local stakeholders; a factor that is said to have significantly contributed in resisting the failed attempts by a few politicians and officials of the Kakamega County Government, who had hatched a plot to taint the image of the project and also suspend its construction due to unexplained approval issues.^[9] In August 2018, the Kakamega County Government, led by Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, agreed with the lead investor, Julius Mwale, to set aside past grievances and thus facilitate the timely completion of this community-backed project.^[10]

Economy[]

At the center of the local economy is Hamptons Hospital, which welcomes patients for the treatment of cancer and other ailments.^[11][12] MMTC also contains a multi-billion shilling shopping and residential complex. The city is built using renewable sources of energy including thousands of solar powered street lights and a solar power plant that is expanding to 50 MW. A 36-hole golf resort and residences contains 1,500 rooms, 4,800 residences along the golf course. Other amenities include a planned water park, a convention center and a second large mall built at the airport.^{[13][14][15][16]}

With its emphasis on sustainable development, MMTC has attracted globally-leading technology companies and hundreds of international investors. One such firm is the Miami-based Innova Eco Building System which invested US $40 million in 2019 to build a green eco panels manufacturing plant at MMTC for building the 4800 homes,^[17] most of which have already been purchased pre-construction by investors from the US and elsewhere.^[18] These homes, like all facilities in the city, will be powered using 100% renewable energy such as solar. Atlanta-based MCX Environmental Energy Corp has invested US $100 million to build a 30-megawatt solar power plant right in the city, to complement the city's other renewable energy solutions.^[19]

In November 2020, MMTC became the first city in the world to run on cryptocurrency, with the city-wide pilot of Akoin. The pilot enabled residents to pay for goods and services using Akoin and to convert their funds into different currencies. It paved the way for a nation-wide launch of Akoin, with expectations that it will become one of the most popular payment platforms in Kenya and across Africa.^{[20] [21]}

As for MMTC's growing Research and Innovation Park, several major international firms have already taken space and chosen MMTC as the headquarters for all their African operations.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

• Mwale Medical and Technology City (Official Page)
• Hamptons Hospital (Official Page)
• Hamptons Mall (Official Page)
• MMTC2020 (Official Facebook Page)
• MMTCkenya (Official Instagram Page)
• Paradise in the Village: Mwale Medical and Technology City (2018 YouTube promotional video)