The report ‘Into Africa The continent’s Cities of Opportunity ‘by PwC concentrates on the continent’s 20 cities which were judged as most dynamic and future focused. The report places Dar at top ahead of Lusaka, Nairobi, Lagos and Accra on opportunity index.

Others on top ten lists are Abidjan, Kigali, Addis Ababa, Kampala and Cairo. According to the PwC survey, they structured the report around the critical issues of the business community, as well as those of the office holders and other public authorities who are responsible for improving the collective life of each city examined here.

“African cities when being assessed need to be looked at through a different lens, as current standings and future potential tell different city stories,” the report said. The cities were contested around economic opportunities which are driven by demands of the emerging middle class— consumers, technology, infrastructure, tourism, and financial services.

Despite scoring high on opportunity index Dar es Salaam was not featured in top ten overall index after being placed at position 15. Three East African cities Nairobi, Kampala and Addis Ababa featured in both top ten indices—opportunity and overall.

Others are Accra, Lagos, and Cairo. Also Dar city was not in the top ten attractive Foreign Direct Investment FDIs. Nairobi leads as the best city in Africa that attracted most FDIs followed by Accra and Lagos.

Others are Johannesburg, Cairo, Casablanca, Abidjan, Tunis, Algiers and Lusaka. The report is an eye-opener to policy since Dar city failed to feature in other areas due to lack of adequate infrastructure and human capital investment.

“[This] can limit the economic potential of a city,” the report showed. The report added: “the role of the public sector policy makers (and related development of institutions) in guiding a city is important to the private sector.

“The building blocks are infrastructure, human capital but also security, where this is in place, culture and society starts to flourish.” The report further show when investing in Africa investors should consider current vis-à-vis potential development, location, nature of opportunity, ‘must-have’ or ‘knock-out’ factors, and time scale.

Source: Daily News

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