Giving back to the community is always a good way to show appreciation to the people that helped shape your life, and for James Mwale, his gift to Kakamega County is packaged in the $2 billion Mwale Medical and Technological City (MMTC) located in Butere.
Mwale, a Kenyan technology entrepreneur and investor based in the US, was thrilled by the Hamptons, a string of seaside communities located in New York. Houses in the area go for huge prices, and impressed by the place, Mwale decided to bring the Hamptons to Kenya.
He assembled a group of investors from the US and together, they set out to establish a medical and technological city in Butere, Kakamega County.
The city rests on five thousand acres of land, and according to Mwale, acquiring that size of land in one area was a huge challenge. They had to convince locals in the area to give up their land for a piece of the project.
Construction of phase one of the city began in 2014 and was completed in 2016. It has a multi-billion shopping and residential complex, and Hamptons Mall. The mall houses Mwal-mart Supermarket, Hamptons Cafe bed and breakfast, a showroom, and more than 90,000 square feet of private residences.
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Phase two of the project began in 2016 and ran through to 2017. This comprised of over 70 kilometres of road, the 5,000-bed Hamptons Referral Hospital, and more than 300 solar street lights.
The phase also included the construction of 4,800 houses that will be home to the doctors and nurses working at the Hamptons hospital.
The Hamptons Hospital was opened in 2019 and has been receiving all kinds of patients. The facility maintains the highest quality of care, and has some of the top diagnostic capabilities in the nation, thus ensuring you get the correct diagnosis and treatment every time you come to see us.
The entire 5,000-bed Hamptons Hospital will be fully complete in December 2021 with 9,000 staff treating 12,000 patients per day by 2022.
Upon completion the hospital will the largest in the country and among the largest on the continent, boasting state-of-the-art equipment and top healthcare professionals.
As a teaching and referral hospital, Hamptons Hospital will also train the next generation of healthcare professionals while conducting leading edge research to discover new drugs and techniques to not only treat illness, but to cure it.
Phase 3 of MMTC began in September 2017 and comprises of a 36-hole golf resort and residences, and an airport with the second shopping mall. It also has a convention center and a water park connected to the hospital. The water park rests on 35 acres of land.
It will also have a technology park and a 144-megawatt gasification power plant.
The MMTC project has attracted major admiration from both local and foreign investors who have visited the site. Unlike several other major projects in the country that have stalled due to various challenges, construction at MMTC has been smooth.
Locals who have given up their land for the project have had houses built for them along with residential units that have been rented out to workers at the project whose number continues to increase.
Due to its sustainable development model, international companies have stepped in to invest in the project. It was reported that in 2019, Miami-based Innova Eco Building System invested about Ksh4 billion to establish a green eco panel manufacturing plant which was used in building the 4,800 homes for medical workers.
The city will be powered by renewable energy. This attracted Atlanta-based MCX Environmental Energy Corp which invested Ksh10 billion to build a 30-megawatt solar power plant right in the city, to complement the city's other renewable energy solutions.
Senegalese-American singer and songwriter Akon, visited the project looking to partner with Mwale. Akon’s digital financial service, Akoin is expected to be used at the city.
On June 21, 2021, international IT services company Atos Origin, announced plans to construct a Ksh28 billion data centre at MMTC.
The data centre is part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation district in the city, and is expected to be complete by end of next year, 2022, and will be one of the largest in the region.
The Atos Origin team led by the Senior project manager for the SADC region Virgil Chetty visted the project and began laying groundwork for construction. It will comprise the installation of the artificial intelligence system and will be completed by September.
"We are building a large AI cluster focused on healthcare and agriculture. This will enable a seamless operation of the currently open Hamptons hospital, as it positions to serve the Lake region economic Bloc, with 16 million people and the larger East African region,” Mwale stated.
