Ebene is a suburb on the island nation of Mauritius, south of the capital, Port Louis. Construction began in November 2001, with the suburb being promoted as a new information technology hub for Mauritius and as a link between African and Asian markets. As a result, it is also referred to as Ebene Cybercity or Cyber City.
The Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower is a 12-storey, 72-metre-tall commercial building located in Ebene Cybercity. The blue glass and grey stone building has been awarded the “Intelligent Building of the Year” by the Intelligent Community Forum, USA in 2005. The IBMS for this building was conceived and implemented by Race Technologies, a company based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The reinforced concrete tower, which was completed in a period of only 18 months, is a fully air-conditioned building with a surface area of 42,275 square metres. Situated in a residential zone and at about 10 kilometres south of Port Louis, the country's capital, the Ebene Cyber Tower One is part of a plan by the Government of Mauritius to develop information and communications technologies as a fifth pillar of the nation's economy. India's prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Ebene Cyber Tower One on April 1, 2005. Nearby, construction of Cyber Tower Two has already ended and the latter should include very modern features just like Cyber Tower One. Ebene Cyber Tower hosts the AFRINIC, the Internet registry for Africa. The Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower is the first office building constructed in Ebene Cybercity. Initially named Cyber Tower One, since 16 January 2019 the tower bears the name of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Government of Mauritius has decided to rename the building in recognition of the contribution of the Government of India at the material time Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. The primary aim of the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower was to attract outsourcing multinationals to boost an emerging ICT sector. Today, with some 50 tenants, is home to 20 multinationals operating in the ICT sector and employing more than 3,000 persons.
History
In the year 2000, the foundation of a strategic partnership between Mauritius and India in the ICT sector was laid between the then Prime Minister of Mauritius and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his visit to Mauritius. A line of credit of 100 million dollars was the signed for the setting up of the first state of the art ICT infrastructure in Mauritius. The creation of the Ebene Cyber City was the first initiative towards the transformation of Mauritius into a Cyber Island. Within a year from the signing of that agreement, some of land at Ebene were earmarked and works started to start the creation of the Cyber City. Within a record time of 18 months, the iconic Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower, a building of 44,000 square meters on 12 floors, emerged and the first occupants moved in as from 2004. The Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower was voted Intelligent Building 2005 by the Intelligent Community Forum of New York. This award propelled Mauritius to a higher level of technology-led businesses and Ebene Cyber City rapidly became the reference place for IT Software development and high-end IT enabled services, just to name a few. The Ebene Cyber City today contributes significantly to the Mauritian economy. Currently, the Cyber City is home to more than 350 companies, employing more than 30,000 people. The total investment for the construction of the 45 high standard buildings in the Cyber City exceeds Rs. 20 billion.
