Edgar

Construction|Lubiliya & Nyam Mini HPDams|Kingfisher &Tilenga Oil and Gas|Hoima City & Akii-Bua Olympic stadiums|Telecomunication|Liverpool

[Wakiso District Local Government @WakisoDLG]

Happening Now:
The official handover of the Wakiso Central Daily Market construction site is underway.
The UGX 20.33 billion project will boost trade, create jobs, & strengthen local economic growth in Wakiso.

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@TheMutaD @IkwapMatthew I would fast track Mpondwe-Kikorongo road works.

[Monica @natuk96005]

I am a qualified primary school teacher who completed college in 2020🫢this is where I last taught before quitting because of poor and delayed pay and started digging for survival 😭 Incase you own a school or you can connect me PLEASE HELP ME I AM CURRENTLY UNEMPLOYED 😭 VGR

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@mabrukix @mwonga_patrick @IkwapMatthew Thank you

[UBC UGANDA @ubctvuganda]

Aliko Dangote: I applaud President Museveni for his bold decision to ban the export of unprocessed minerals. I also want to commit to the two presidents here that, with their support for the refinery, we will build a similar one in East Africa like the one we have in Nigeria.

[David F.K. Mpanga @dfkm1970]

We shall never see the Uganda we want until we develop a central nervous system that enables us to feel each other's pain.

[DBwambale @TheMutaD]

The National Council for Sports has SOME very, very few good people. They should use this season to introspect. What happens to 3 world class facilities after one hosts AFCON? DO we go the way of the botched & expensive (mis)management of Uganda Airlines revival or change?

[Joel JAFFER Aita @aitajoel]

OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
H.E. GEN. YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI, PRESIDENT OF UGANDA

BUILDING LOCAL CONSTRUCTION CAPACITY: A CALL FOR STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN UGANDA'S INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY

March 2026

Your Excellency,
I write to you with deep respect, and with the conviction of a civil engineer who has spent over two decades working in Uganda's infrastructure sector. Serving communities from Kisoro to Kidepo, from Arua to the farthest reaches of our nation. I write not to complain, but to propose. Not to criticize, but to build. And I write because I believe this government has both the will and the ability to transform how Uganda constructs its own future.

Uganda is spending billions of dollars most of it borrowed on infrastructure. Roads, water systems, hospitals, energy projects, and urban development are being financed through loans from the AfDB, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, KfW, UKEF, Saudi Fund, BADEA, OFID, and others. Yet a troubling and persistent pattern continues: the majority of these funds leave Uganda the moment they arrive, carried out in the pockets of foreign construction companies who win our contracts, import their workforce, and repatriate their profits. Uganda builds, but Ugandans do not benefit.

This is not a new observation. But the urgency is new. As our national debt grows and as the infrastructure gap widens, we cannot afford to continue financing the development of other nations while our own local construction industry remains weak, underfunded, and structurally excluded from the very projects meant to develop our country.

Your Excellency, the solution is not to stop borrowing. The solution is to ensure that borrowed money builds Ugandan capacity permanently.

I. THE PROBLEM: FOREIGN DOMINANCE OF UGANDA'S CONSTRUCTION SECTOR
Uganda's government construction projects, particularly those financed by international development partners are overwhelmingly awarded to foreign contractors. Chinese, Turkish, Indian, and European construction firms routinely secure the largest and most lucrative contracts, while Ugandan companies are confined to minor subcontracts, if any at all.

The reasons are well understood:
•Local companies lack the financial muscle to post the performance bonds and advance payment guarantees demanded under international tender requirements.
•They lack access to modern plant and equipment, and cannot compete on mobilization capacity.
•They are excluded by minimum turnover thresholds and track record requirements set at levels no Ugandan company can meet.
•They cannot secure affordable financing from commercial banks whose interest rates range from 20% to 26% making project financing economically impossible.
•There is no structured, government-backed system to develop local firms technically or financially.

The result is a construction sector that looks busy but delivers very little lasting value to Uganda. When foreign contractors leave, they take their skills, their equipment, and their profits with them. Uganda is left with infrastructure — but without the industrial capacity to maintain it, expand it, or build on it independently.

This must change. And it can change with deliberate, courageous policy action.

II. PROPOSAL ONE: MANDATORY 30% LOCAL SUBCONTRACTING — THE MALAWI MODEL
The first and most immediately actionable reform Your Excellency can direct is the introduction of a mandatory local content requirement for all government-funded construction contracts.
I propose that no foreign construction company should be permitted to sign a main construction contract in Uganda unless it has first entered into a formally executed subcontract agreement with a Ugandan-registered and Ugandan-owned construction firm — covering a minimum of 30% of the contract value. The current Law is not followed.

This is not a radical idea. It is already working in our region.
🌍 THE MALAWI PRECEDENT: A MODEL FOR UGANDA
Malawi has implemented a local content policy in its public infrastructure programmes that requires foreign contractors to formally subcontract a defined percentage of work to locally registered companies (Owned at least 51% by an indigenous Malawian). Critically, the subcontract agreement must be signed BEFORE the foreign contractor can execute the main contract.

This single requirement will have transformative effects:
•Ugandan companies gain direct exposure to international construction standards and project management disciplines
•Technology and skills transfer happen organically, on the job
•Local firms build track records that qualify them for larger contracts over time
•A portion of contract proceeds is retained within the local economy
•Foreign firms are incentivized to partner with and develop local capacity, rather than bypass it

"What Malawi has demonstrated is that local content is not charity it is industrial policy."

Uganda should codify this into the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act as a non-waivable mandatory condition.

The 30% threshold should be structured as a floor, not a ceiling. Procurement regulations should incentivize bids that exceed this threshold, with evaluation criteria rewarding higher local content commitments. Sectors such as water and sanitation, urban roads, and social infrastructure — where local firms already have meaningful expertise — should attract mandatory local content requirements of up to 50%.

The PPDA, the Ministry of Works and Transport, and other entities should be directed to update standard bidding documents immediately to make subcontract agreements with local firms a mandatory prerequisite for contract award.

III. PROPOSAL TWO: A STRUCTURED NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR LOCAL CONSTRUCTION CAPACITY BUILDING
Mandatory local participation alone is not sufficient. For local firms to actually execute their subcontracted works to the required quality, they must be equipped with the skills, systems, and standards to do so. I propose that the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Works and Transport in partnership with the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and the Engineers Registration Board (ERB), establish a dedicated National Construction Industry Development Programme (NCIDP).

This programme should include the following components:

3.1 Technical Skills Development
A structured technical training pipeline, targeting middle-level construction managers, site engineers, quantity surveyors, and foremen across Uganda's regions. Partnerships with UIPE, ERB, and Uganda's public universities including Muni University and Makerere should be formalized to deliver industry-relevant curricula aligned with real project requirements.

3.2 Equipment Leasing and Shared Plant Programme
One of the greatest barriers facing local contractors is access to plant and equipment. A Government Equipment Leasing Programme similar to what exists in Ghana and Rwanda would make excavators, compactors, pavers, and other heavy machinery available to qualifying local firms at subsidized rental rates. Equipment depots could be established regionally, ensuring firms outside Kampala have access.

3.3 Business Development and Management Training
Many local firms fail not because of poor workmanship, but because of poor financial management, contract administration, and business systems. A structured training programme in construction business management, contract law, and quality systems — delivered through institutions like the Joadah Design Institute and other accredited training providers would address this gap directly.

3.4 Technology Transfer Requirements
Every major foreign contractor operating in Uganda should be required, as a condition of contract, to deliver a formal technology and skills transfer programme including on-site training for Ugandan staff, documentation of systems and processes, and mentorship of designated Ugandan counterparts. This should be assessed as part of contract performance evaluation.

3.5 A Uganda Contractors Registry with Grading and Development Tracks
PPDA and the Ministry of Works should establish a national contractor grading system, classifying local contractors by capacity level. This registry would match firms with appropriately sized opportunities and create a defined pathway from Grade 1 (small community works) to Grade 5 (major national infrastructure). Progression through grades would be tied to demonstrated performance, training completion, and financial capacity benchmarks.

IV. PROPOSAL THREE: ESTABLISH A UGANDA INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION BANK (UICB)
Your Excellency, no reform will be sufficient if local contractors cannot access affordable financing. This is the single greatest structural barrier facing Ugandan construction firms today, and it requires a structural not incremental solution.

Commercial bank lending rates in Uganda range between 20% and 26% per annum. No construction firm working on projects with typical margins of 8% to 15% can profitably borrow at those rates to finance project mobilization, performance bonds, or working capital. The result is that local firms are perpetually under-capitalized, unable to grow, and structurally incapable of competing.

I propose the establishment of the Uganda Infrastructure and Construction Bank (UICB) a government-owned or government-guaranteed development finance institution specifically mandated to serve the construction and infrastructure sector.

🏦 UGANDA INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION BANK — PROPOSED MANDATE
LENDING RATES: Single-digit interest rates (5–9% p.a.) for qualifying local contractors on government-funded projects

PRODUCTS:
•Performance Bond Guarantee Facility — enabling firms to meet contract requirements
•Advance Payment Bridging Finance — covering mobilization costs while advance payments clear
•Equipment Acquisition Loans — long-term, low-interest financing for plant and machinery
•Working Capital Facilities — revolving credit during project execution

ELIGIBILITY: Ugandan-registered, Ugandan-majority-owned firms with valid contracts on public projects

GOVERNANCE: Independent board, regulated by Bank of Uganda, capitalized by Government of Uganda and development partner co-financing

PRECEDENTS: Rwanda Development Bank (BRD), Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company

The UICB would not replace commercial banks it would fill the gap that commercial banks have neither the mandate nor the appetite to fill. It would be the financial backbone of a revitalized local construction industry.

Initial capitalization could be structured through a combination of Government of Uganda equity, a levy on large foreign construction contracts (for example, 1–2% of contract value paid into the UICB capitalization fund), and concessional co-financing from development partners such as the AfDB Local Currency Solutions initiative, IFC, and the European Investment Bank.

This institution would pay for itself. Every shilling lent to a Ugandan contractor on a government project recirculates through the Ugandan economy — in wages, in local material procurement, in taxes, in reinvested profit. The multiplier effect of local construction financing is, by conservative estimates, three to four times greater than equivalent expenditure through foreign contractors.

V. WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE: A VISION FOR 2030
Your Excellency, the three proposals above are mutually reinforcing. Together, they create a system:
•Mandatory local subcontracting opens the door giving Ugandan firms the contracts they need.
•Capacity building provides the skills and systems to walk through that door successfully.
•The Government Construction Bank provides the financial fuel to sustain the journey.
•Within a decade, Uganda could realistically achieve a construction sector where:
•At least 60% of government infrastructure contracts are led or co-led by Ugandan firms.
•A new generation of Grade 4 and Grade 5 Ugandan contractors exists, capable of independently delivering projects valued at USD 50 million and above.
•Uganda's construction sector contributes meaningfully to formal employment, skills development, and industrial growth.
•Infrastructure loan proceeds remain largely within Uganda, multiplying their developmental impact.
•Uganda's engineers and construction professionals are recognized as leaders across the East African region.

None of this requires Uganda to reinvent the wheel. Malawi, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa have all implemented versions of these policies. What it requires is political will and coordinated implementation.

VI. A CALL TO ACTION: WHAT YOUR EXCELLENCY CAN DIRECT TODAY
The following actions can be initiated immediately, without requiring new legislation in the first instance, through executive direction and ministerial circulars:
https://t.co/BGEyUPTXTj the PPDA Authority and Ministry of Works and Transport and other government entities to amend standard bidding documents for all government infrastructure contracts above UGX 10 billion to include a mandatory local subcontracting requirement of not less than 30%.
https://t.co/J5Fbq8gZnd Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Water, and other government implementing agencies to enforce this requirement immediately on all contracts currently under procurement.
iii.Commission a feasibility study for the Uganda Infrastructure and Construction Bank, to be completed within six months, with a mandate to present a full business case to Cabinet.
https://t.co/HDL8Uo0CPt UIPE, ERB, and the Ministry of Works to develop a National Contractor Development Programme framework within ninety days, for implementation from the next financial year.
v.Engage development partners particularly the World Bank, AfDB, and EU to include local content provisions as a conditionality in infrastructure financing agreements with Uganda.

These are not large budgetary commitments. They are policy decisions. And they will have larger long-term returns than virtually any other infrastructure policy measure available to this government.

VII. CLOSING REMARKS
Your Excellency, Uganda is not short of talent. We have engineers who have designed and supervised projects worth over a billion dollars. We have contractors who have delivered quality works in challenging conditions. We have young professionals hungry for opportunity and capable of excellence when given the chance.

What we lack is a system that believes in us enough to invest in us, a system that says, unambiguously, that Ugandan hands will build Uganda.

The infrastructure being constructed today will define this nation for the next fifty years. The question is not whether Uganda will build it will. The question is whether Uganda will build its own capacity in the process, or whether we will arrive at a future of gleaming roads and modern hospitals, still unable to construct or maintain them without calling a foreign company.

I believe Uganda Can Build. I believe Ugandan engineers and contractors, properly supported and properly empowered, can deliver world-class infrastructure on Ugandan soil. This letter is my contribution to making that belief a reality.

With respect, with conviction, and in service of our nation,

Joel Aita
CEO & Chairman, Joadah Consult Ltd | Entebbe, Uganda
Civil Engineer | Entrepreneur | Author — An Entrepreneur's Mind
Chairperson, Muni University Council
Director, Joadah Design Institute | Director, Joadah Technologies Ltd @KagutaMuseveni

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@GodwinTOKO The Mitchell in you, Rat😄

[AFRICAMUSTBEFREE!!!!!!! @engrICO2015]

Fine mathematics

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@harderHB Sir,
Frame 4: it is Hoima City Stadium not Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@GideonSsekidde @Educ_SportsUg @UCC_ED @MKarekye @GovUganda @GoldenPosts1 @GCICMediaReview @GouInfrastruct @gou_economy @DestinationUG1 @ConsumerUCC @UCC_Official @mkainerugaba @StateHouseUg Frame 1, is Hoima city stadium not Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium
Thank you

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@WasikeAbdu @PetaTabu @ahimbisibwe_val @HilaryMukundane It's already there, Hunter FM

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@CultonScovia May Mzee's Soul Rest In Peace

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@Comrade_Otoa Sir, feel good.

It used to be like at this time then boom @edgar this @edgar that.
The day and nights were oooh

The pressure increased from day 1 to last day. Proud though

[Samwise Gamgee @Sambannz]

Rainwater from Mbarara University of science and technology enters people's shops in Kashanyarazi cell.
A university which teaches civil water, electoral and mechanical engineers.
A university of science& technology but cooking is done using firewood.

Entwiga strikes again. 😂😂

[𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗬𝗜 @Ssenyonyiderick]

🎥: justkatalina

[Edgar @edgarssempijja]

@UGIndependent Lira project is not at 95% please

The man talked about the main stadium major works (concrete works)

45% ....should be for the word project.

[Samwise Gamgee @Sambannz]

Entwiga to Yusuf Nsibambi on political prisoners.

👂👂