The government says the National Data Centre Project is nearing completion and has called on industry and the continent to invest more in data centers given their importance to regional economies.
The Deputy Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said they are forging ahead with the implementation of the national data center project which is now 95% complete and stressed the need for ICT stakeholders to take seriously the subject of data centers.
In spite of their importance to the African economy, data centers are still underexposed in the media, politics, government and society.
Data Centre Africa Chairperson, Dr Dunny Derera said the organisation is ready to partner government in effective implementation of the ICT policy.
“We are keen to work with the Zimbabwean government in the implementation of the national ICT policy and it is our view that we need to come up with home grown solutions in addressing some of our challenges.
A data center is a computer facility designed for continuous use by several users, and well equipped with hardware, software, power conditioning and backup, communication equipment and security systems.
WHAT WILL BE THE GOVERNMENT’S USE OF THE DATA CENTRE?
It’s quite interesting to see that the government is pushing for more data centres’ and you may be wondering why this is the case? Well, one of the answers can come from Ireland who began a similar project early last year and among their reasons for doing so they justified the move as follows:
Data centre presence in Ireland raises Ireland’s visibility internationally as a technology-rich, innovative economy. This, in turn, places Ireland on the map as a location of choice for a range of sectors and activities that are increasingly reliant on digital capabilities including manufacturing, financial services, animation, retail and global business services.
[Later on in the same passage]Employment in data centres are high value jobs, and although the numbers directly employed in data centres is relatively low at 1,8003 they stimulate additional economic activity. Many entities that have invested in data centres here have doubled their employment since 2010.
…Aside from the 1,900 or so workers involved each year in the construction of data centres here, according to the Construction Industry Federation, our Irish owned construction firms now compete effectively on international markets and generate a further 6,600 jobs through overseas activities
This passage covers many of the reasons why data centres are important to many countries.
They create employment, and the countries that are known as tech havens are known to attract the biggest tech companies and have tech ecosystems like the ones we see in South Africa and Kenya.
More employment, good PR for the government, more production in the economy and so on and so forth.
This all aligns pretty well with the plans to make Zimbabwe a middle-income economy by 2030 as the President has claimed many-a-time.