Govt taps Shs370b funding to end Kampala water crisis

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has launched a Shs373 billion project aimed at improving water supply in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan area.

The Corporation’s Managing Director, Dr Silver Mugisha, said the project, which involves rehabilitation, restructuring, and rezoning of the supply network in the area, seeks to extend water to an additional one million people.

“It's quite an extensive project and I think when we cover those, we shall reduce the catchment for Muyenga and so we shall be increasing water supply on the south-western part of Kampala,” Eng Mugisha said in an interview.

He added: “This project comes in to solve a huge water supply challenge which we have been experiencing in Kampala.”

Almost every day, several areas around Kampala experience water shortages. The planned expansion of the water supply comes after the commissioning in December 2022 of the new water plant located in Katosi, Mukono District.

According to NWSC, the Katosi plant has a designed capacity of 240 million litres per day but currently produces 160 million litres of water per day.

Eng Mugisha revealed that the Katosi plant’s capacity is being underutilised because of limited distribution networks.

Mr Mugisha said the project will see the construction of three reservoirs at Kungu, Buwate, Kabulengwa in Nansana Municipality, and Mutungo with a combined capacity of 13.5 million litres, 71 km of primary network pipeline, and three booster stations.

Areas of Kira, Kasangati, Kanyanga, Gayaza Road, Kitezi, Kawanda, Matugga, Kawempe, Nansana, and Mutungo Bweyogerere, among others, will benefit from the project.

The project, which is funded by the French Development Agency, will commence in November and run up to May 2027.

According to Eng Mugisha, the project is expected to serve an additional population of one million from the current five million to six million people in the Kampala metropolitan area.

While signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the contractor, Sogea Satom, on Friday, Eng Mugisha urged them to execute the work within the time frame and budget. “We don't like cost overruns and time overruns. That is what builds the relationship with us because for us we trust you now based on the goodwill and good actions you have done in good faith consistently over a long period of time,” he said.

Mr Marc Grechi, the country director for Sogeya Satom Company in Uganda, said: “We are fully committed as a contractor to deliver this project in due time and quality, as we have been doing on other projects.”

According to their Corporate Plan for 2024-2027, NWSC seeks to increase the current 950,000 water connections to 1,135,000 by 2027.