SMART CITY PROJECT IN MAURITIUS
Moka Smart City: the most advanced Smart City of Mauritius

The tangible transformation currently occurring in Moka offers an excellent return on investment: land value has increased threefold over the past decade with a residential rental yield of around 6%. This very well developed city is a convenient and pleasant place to live. Centrally located and accessible, it is situated between the country’s two highways and in close proximity to the main urban centres. In addition, its mild climate strikes the perfect balance between the cooler uplands and warmer coastal temperatures. Moka is certainly a great place to live, but also the perfect hub for business.

Urban planning is certainly a challenge, but one that Moka Smart City is determined to tackle. International and local experts ensure regulatory compliance and monitor developments in the city through close collaboration with local authorities. Urbanisation goes hand in hand with sustainable development, which is an integral part of the project.

To better serve this objective, Moka has incorporated green building principles into its development through entering the independent American certification process, LEED for Neighbourhood Development (LEED – ND). Prior to the actual urbanisation phase, every effort is being made to ensure the responsible and sustainable development of the smart city, in keeping with the best international practices. The goal is to reduce the ecological footprint while raising the standard of living for the people of Moka.

In addition to urbanisation, the aim is to achieve good city governance - with the assurance of long-term compliance with the technical and architectural guidelines by all secondary developers (residential, retail and office), resulting in the best possible quality of life.

Moka has obtained a Smart City Certificate from the Government of Mauritius in 2017 and now offers foreign investors the opportunity to buy property in the heart of the country. The Smart City Scheme also offers a number of tax preferences and makes setting-up procedures easier.
Such certification will fuel the existing ongoing development of the city and further enhance economic activity, optimal use of resources, residents’ quality of life and citizen engagement, among others. Besides its location and accessibility in the heart of the island, a distinguishing feature of this smart city is that it is a dozen years ahead of other similar projects and has been developed from an existing village. Moka already offers a convenient and lively urban lifestyle.

Moka is centrally located and accessible, within minutes from Ebene and the capital, Port Louis. Set in the heart of the country’s main population belt with 70% of the purchasing power and 40% of the labour force, the smart city offers a great opportunity to establish a business.

Presently, Moka has 3 business centres, a retail area mainly for the automotive sector and a light industrial zone. They all provide a working environment that promotes employee welfare, as reflected in the generous parking and green spaces. Vivéa Business Park has become a favourite destination for business. The facility accommodates nearly 50 companies, 1,500 employees, a restaurant, a nursery providing extended-hours childcare and various green spaces. A dozen plots earmarked for office premises have been brought to the market and sold this year; the office space available at the newly opened The Pod has also been fully rented out. Furthermore, PwC has set up its headquarters in Telfair, the future city centre of Moka.

Bagatelle is a booming area where a number of projects are being developed around the mall, including the Motor City, where car brands like Peugeot, Citroën and Suzuki are already established. Land Rover, Jaguar, Hyundai and Toyota showrooms will also open in the coming months and the American Embassy has decided to move next to the Bagatelle Office Park. In addition, the smart city promotes entrepreneurship and development through the start-up incubator and co-working space, Turbine.

The tangible transformation of Moka is now delivering an excellent return on investment: land value has increased threefold over the past decade with a rental yield of around 9.5% and 6% for office and residential property respectively.

The developments launched in Moka have proven highly successful. The first two phases of Les Promenades d’Helvétia, the first residential development marketed under the Smart City Scheme, are fully sold with about 15% of foreign buyers. Courchamps is a new residential area that is growing. Some homeowners have already moved to Les Rives de Courchamps, where all the 80 lots have been sold and delivered, and ENL Property has recently put 53 new plots on the market in Les Versants de Courchamps.

Delivering a thriving city is at the heart of Moka’s strategy, and this identity will underline community life. The smart city’s philosophy is oriented towards enhancing the lives of citizens and the community at large through sports, culture and events. Enhancing the sports component – which serves as a catalyst for community development – is high on the agenda.

In addition to the leisure activities available in Bagatelle, the Synergy Sport & Wellness Institute in Helvétia offers various sports facilities, with significant diversification plans. Moka Rangers Sports Club currently counts 400 athletes involved in 10 disciplines, including karate, fencing and handball. Four permanent trail running routes will soon be available through the Moka Chain, with regular cleaning and marking. Art and culture also play an important role in the city, contributing to its liveliness. Moka Smart City’s active involvement includes seeking the contribution of local artists to give a ‘soul’ to common spaces and put on events with the aim of bringing together people from different backgrounds.

Other activities are held on an annual basis, like the Moka Trail with more than 2,000 participants, the Open-Air Cinema, a free outdoor short-film screening that attracted 1,000 people, the Moka Art Festival, a musical event that gathered around 1,000 spectators, and the Moka Plant Festival, an environmental initiative that saw a turnout of over 5,000 people in 2018.

Moka’mwad has been a flagship project for the smart city for years. This citizens’ initiative is the perfect way to bring together the long-established and new citizens of Moka. The objective is to develop the community life of tomorrow around the citizens’ needs and wants, and design a city that they can call their own, a city that they want for themselves and their children.

The collective acts as a driver, catalyst and guardian for the city through organising activities around themes like art, culture and heritage, team spirit and sports, ecology and the environment, the economy and entrepreneurship, health and hygiene as well as education. This initiative has met with broad support: each event was attended by more than 100 volunteers, who poured their heart and soul into discussing these various themes.

A more concrete calendar has been introduced in April 2019 for a more organised approach. Moka'mwad has cemented its place within the community and this year is already proving to be a successful one for the collective.

Moka has a broad range of existing educational facilities, from nurseries to universities. The objective now is to supplement the offer with niche alternatives that are not yet generally available in Mauritius. Various educational projects to that end are under way.

The city currently has:

• 4 tertiary institutions, including 2 private
• 2 French- and English-speaking secondary schools, including 3 private
• 6 French- and English-speaking primary schools, including 2 private
• 5 French- and English-speaking nurseries and kindergarten facilities, all private
• 1 public and English pre-vocational training centre

• 35% of the surface area consisting of green and public spaces
• Digital energy efficiency management
• Citizen training on water and electricity saving
• A wastewater treatment plant
• Redistribution of (non-potable) treated water to save drinking water
• Installation of more than 7,200 solar panels for a total output of 2.3 MW
• 10 voluntary waste drop-off points
• ‘Connected’ sorting bins
• Installation of water dispensers to reduce plastic bottle use