Outline of the Project

Project Name

The development of a Geospatial information database project (Greater Harare Mapping)

Duration

From June 2015 to June 2017 (Completed)

Counterpart

Department of the Surveyor-General (DSG),
Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement (MLRR)

Background

Urban population of the City of Harare- the capital of the Republic of Zimbabwe- has been increasing at a fast rate since independence. The population increased from 658,000 people in 1982 to approximately 1.6 million people in 2012. To date, Harare is confronted with problems such as inadequate basic urban services, the collapse of public infrastructure and utilities, traffic congestion, urban sprawl as well as proliferation of informal settlements.

In order to plan and develop infrastructure, large-scale topographic maps are required. However, the existing large-scale topographic maps, which were produced more than 30 years ago, are out of date. Therefore, up to date large scale topographic maps covering the City of Harare and its environs are required for infrastructure planning, development and management.

The Government of Zimbabwe requested the Government of Japan for a technical cooperation program in order to produce the 1:5,000 Digital Topographic map and Digital Ortho-photo. Maps

Expected Outcomes

Develop the Geospatial Information Database for the Greater Harare area: the City of Harare and the neighboring local authorities (Chitungwiza, Epworth, Ruwa and part of Norton)

Activities Done

In order to achieve the project goal above mentioned, following intervention was undertaken by JICA and DSG:

• Produced 1:5,000 large-scale digital topographic maps and geospatial datasets for the center of Harare (96km2) ;
• Produced ortho-photo map with contour lines for Greater Harare including Manyame River System (Approx. 1700km2 )
• Acquired latest digital aerial photographs for the project area (Approx.1800km2);
• Conducted training programmes in order to develop capacity of the DSG updating Digital Topographic map as well as disseminate geospatial information for Greater Harare.

The Digital Topographic maps and Digital Ortho-photos for the Greater Harare area developed by the Project are expected to contribute to sustainable development of the infrastructure and public health service, such as water supply and sewerage systems. Geospatial information database such as Digital Topographic map will be developed by DSG based on the result of technical transfer in the project.