President Museveni has said that government is aiming at producing 500,000 vehicles per year by the year 2030.
Speaking during the celebrations to mark the World Science Week for Peace and Development at Kololo independence grounds on Wednesday, the president said government has taken definitive steps towards building a robust, competitive and sustainable mobility industrial value chain in Uganda that he said will ensure the dream is realized.
“ The prioritization of the mobility industrial value chain is in cognisance that it provides an unprecedented opportunity for harnessing the nation’s population dividend in promoting value addition to Uganda’s mineral and other natural resources with the view of import substitution and export promotion of vehicles, parts, components, systems and mobility engineering services,”Museveni said.
“The goal is 500,000 vehicles produced annually by 2030 coupled with establishment of efficient, integrated, sustainable, safe and inclusive public transport systems while promoting environmentally friendly transport solutions.”
According to the president, government is committed to working with the private sector, academia and development partners to ensure that as many parts of the bus, trucks, pick ups, SUVs, 2-3 wheelers and tractors among others are made locally by Uganda’s scientists and artisans.
He said the move is projected to create over 300 factories manufacturing 65% of the required vehicle parts locally by 2030 and employing over 100,000 people.
“Government will institutionalize programs to skill and perfect the skills of our artisans to manufacture vehicle parts even for export transforming them from subsistence into manufacturing, ICT and services sectors and hence into the money economy,” he said.
The development comes on the backdrop of the Kiira EV and Kayoola buses that are locally assembled.
Government has also since funded the construction of the Kiira vehicle plant that sits on 100 acres of land at the Jinja Industrial and Business Park.
President Museveni recently said government will soon ban the importation of buses into the country as a way of supporting the country’s automotive industry.
Commitment
Museveni also noted that the ruling NRM government is fully committed to supporting and funding science and innovation as one of the sectors to propel the country to development.
“You see that the integration of science, technology and innovation in Uganda’s national development planning could have started in the 1990s under the NRM with the establishment of the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) under the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology Act, 1990 . The UNCST replaced the National Research Council,”he said.
The president noted that over the years, reforms of the public sector have happened including the creation of dedicated research and development organizations such as the National Agricultural Research Organization, (NARO) Uganda National Health Research Organization Uganda (UNHRO) and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) whereas government line ministries assumed a policy and regulatory function, leaving research to academic and research organizations.
“Over the past decade, substantial effort has been invested in infusing science, technology and innovation into the national economy.”
According to the president, government has identified six priority industrial value chains including the pathogen economy, engineering, mobility, beauty and apparel, digital economy and agro-security to be the core focus for strategic intervention in the short-medium term under the NDP III .
He said that because of several ideas, the country’s pathogen economy has developed especially during the Covid pandemic.
Before that, we were not doing much. But since them, we have moved. For Example, we have a natural therapeutic where we have completed the clinical trial and the regulators are now examining the information which came out. We are working on four Covid-19 vaccines – although we have been delayed a lot with delays in accessing some reagents we needed, we have made progress. Despite these delays, we have still made progress,” he said.
According to Museveni, the digital economy platform will focus on creating an enabling environment through facilitating progressive regulation, promoting digital literacy and skills, working with other agencies to setup the necessary physical and digital infrastructure.