The industrial sector in Uganda consists of construction, mining and quarrying, formal manufacturing, informal manufacturing, electricity supply, and water supply. In 2010/11, the construction sub-sector was the largest, followed by formal manufacturing, water supply, informal manufacturing, electricity supply and then mining and quarrying.
In line with Uganda’s major objective to mainstream green growth in government programmes, Uganda is prioritizing Green Growth to help implement the National Development Plan (NDPIII) and the Uganda Green Growth Development Strategy (UGGDS). The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), with support from the European Union, seeks to create a strong, resilient and competitive industrial base through Greening Uganda’s Urbanisation and Industrialisation Project.
NDPIII identified industrialisation and urbanisation among the key components to be harnessed to achieve the desired economic transformation. The new concept of ‘industrial-urban symbiosis’ is now being explored in this regard. The government is working towards creating employment for the current population and at the same time, achieving economic transformation and development by 2040. Specifically, the theme for NDPIII is “Sustainable industrialisation for inclusive growth, wealth creation and employment”. In short, the government wants to modernise the economy of the nation through a greening development perspective.
Ms. Dagmar Zwebe addressing the delegates during the launch
“If we don’t invest in green growth initiatives such as solid waste management and climate change mitigation today, ten years from now it will be very expensive. If we do not act now the future challenges will have a high adaptation cost to them,” Ms. Dagmar Zwebe the GGGI Uganda Country Representative said during her address to the delegation during the launch.
The Launch of the Green Industrial Database
On the November 19, 2021, H. E. the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, launched the National Industrial Database and the Green Manufacturing Strategy. This has come at an opportune time when government is prioritizing green growth programmes. The Industrial database provides a platform for effective data management to allow timely access to industrial data.
“The source of Uganda’s greater wealth will come from having strong manufacturing capacity for competitiveness in regional trade and integration into global value chains,” said Her Excellency during the launch of the Database.
The launched Industrial Database
This year’s commemoration of the Africa Industrialization Day presented a unique opportunity to highlight the progress made in pursuing a sustainable Industrialization agenda in Uganda. This shone light on import substitution and promotion of exports through increased value addition to local resources as the main strategies for bolstering the Industrialisation agenda in the post Covid-19 era.
The Hon. State Minister for Industrialisation, David Bahati in his remarks, urged the industrialists to take advantage of this online platform. It would ease lobbying for investment opportunities for the industrial sector and ensure efficient resource allocation during the planning process.
The database will allow for online self-registration by new investors in the industrial sector. It will capture ‘live’ data, process and distribute it to deliver visualizations and analytics to enable meaningful decisions to be made. The database also has the potential to issue provisional e-certificates to prospective industrialists that meet green growth criteria.
Uganda has set out to turn the misfortunes of the Covid-19 pandemic into an opportunity by converting the Country’s huge import bill into a boost for domestic manufacturing capacity. The NDP III and the National Industrial Policy 2020 cites “import replacement/promotion of local manufacturing” as one key development strategies Uganda is going to pursue between the financial years 2020/21 and 2024/25 to achieve the Country’s goal of social economic transformation.