By Isaac Wandubile
Jinja – In line with the National Development Plan III, (NDPIII), and Uganda aspires to promote local manufacturing of motor vehicles and setting up of safe and environmentally safe transport systems.
This is what Kiira Motors Corporation Limited in Jinja is aspiring to do according to the chief executive officer Paul Isaac Musasizi. The company is a state-owned enterprise which was operationalized on 1st July, 2018, with 96% shares belonging to the government and 4% by Makerere University where everything started.
The government has so far spent about Shs350 billion from the time of inception of the company; with 7% sunk into construction of the Plant, 7% into product development, with the rest going into feasibility studies, acquiring more land, paying wages and operating costs according to the CEO.
The company’s current asset base according to Mr. Musasizi is $80 million, and the company currently has two product lines i.e. the Kayoola EVS and diesel-powered coaches. These come in 12-metre coaches that can cover 300km once fully charged with a capacity of 90 passengers, the 10-metre coach which can cover 250km when fully charged and a sitting capacity of 70 passengers.
There is also the 8-metre electronic bus with a range of 200km when fully charged and a sitting capacity of 56 passengers, which are currently on Ugandan roads.
All production is currently being done from Nakasongola district as the Jinja site nears completion (88% complete) with a team of 120 employees. When fully operational, the company will employ over 2,000 people directly and indirectly.
The company is also nearing certification by the International Society of Automotive Engineers to start exporting its products within East Africa and the African continent as a whole according to the executive director.
The corporation in partnership with the Science Technology and Innovation in the Office of the President is currently training over 200 drivers on how to operate electric buses which have a different gear system from fossil-fueled motor vehicles.
When asked about the challenges faced by the company, Musasizi said that the biggest challenge is underfunding by the government. For example, in the current financial year 2023/2024, the company was allocated Shs80 billion, but only Shs45 billion has been released to them. Accommodation is also another challenge, with staff finding it hard to find lodging when off-duty.
Musasizi made these remarks on Wednesday before the Science Technology Committee of Parliament who were on an oversight visit on the selected industrial value chain for the National Development Plan Three (NDPIII) of which the Corporation is among.
The Plant could go full scale by the end of 2024 if all goes according to plan, with all the allocated funding in the current and coming financial year fully disbursed to the Corporation.
The chairperson of the STI Committee MP Eng. Alex Niyonsaba (Bufumbira South) lauded the President and management of Kiira Motors, and Makerere University where everything began for the progress so far made. “The project is almost complete and I have seen the workmanship is excellent, and you are moving on well,” the chairperson said.
He also added that the Plant is almost ready to start manufacturing buses in one of the biggest facilities the country has ever had, from the time of its first industrialization.
“I want to thank the President of Uganda for having thought to give support to Makerere University which was the brainchild of the factory, and has moved with them up to this level,” he lauded.
Visit to Busitema University Nagongera Campus
Prof. Saphima Biira, the Acting Chancellor, Busitema University in her submission before the committee noted that the University is currently undertaking extensive research on aflatoxins under programs like Agro-processing engineering, where students and researchers are developing technologies to support the system. She also thanked the government, which she says has so far disbursed to the University Shs1 billion as per program research.
“We develop our prototypes into a level that is usable and we can now involve our communities to use them,” she further explained.
The students have also been trained in post-harvesting handling where many of them know how to avoid aflatoxins, whereby currently there is a team of students in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture are developing a chemical to nip the challenge in the bud.
She also echoed the need for sensitisation about the products the University is making especially among the local communities to help change their mindset and utilise home-made products as opposed to consuming imported ones.
Prof. Biira also informed the committee that Busitema University has formed partnerships with various institutions both locally and internationally especially in space science and other areas.
However, she says that all these can be possible with adequate funding from the government to foster more research and innovation to offer real-time solutions with the data produced. She rallied for the need to have a solar map for the country so that appropriate innovations into solar energy can be made using each region’s solar map.
Committee chairperson Eng. Niyonsaba was also equally impressed with the innovations at Busitema University, first with the student population of 6,000 students with a teaching staff of 80 PhD holders, which he says is quite impressive.
He also lauded the University for its centres of excellence in research of climate change, soil science, tourism and hospitality, child and maternal health, artificial intelligence, maritime engineering, space science to mention but a few.
Meanwhile, Niyonsaba urged the University to spread its centres of excellence across other parts of the country and not only concentrate it in eastern Uganda, so that it benefits the country as a whole since it is a public University.
On the issue of mindset change, he rallied communication experts at the Science Technology and Innovations Secretariat to take up the mantle to sensitise Ugandans especially in the countryside about the products Busitema University is making. He also called for the need for increased government scholarships for Masters Students in sciences to promote research and innovation.
“As much as they are giving for undergraduate studies, we also need to look at the ones for postgraduate studies that are very crucial for the social and economic transformation of Uganda,” he noted. He conclusively said that in as much as there are current budget cuts by the government, the education budget like defence, health, and agriculture should be looked at with a keen interest.
Increasing staff at the University and commercialization of the products was top of what the committee promised to resolve when they make a report and present it to the House. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).