Roundup: Uganda unveils plan to reach middle-income status by 2020

Uganda on Thursday launched the second National Development Plan (NDP), the country's blue print to propel it towards middle-income status and attain a per capita income of 1,033 U.S. dollars by 2020, up from the current 700 dollars.

The 65.6-billion-dollar plan launched by the country's President Yoweri Museveni is the second in a series of six five- year plans aimed at achieving the Uganda Vision 2040.

The Uganda Vision 2040 is a long-term plan containing aspirations of Ugandans to operationalize the country's Vision which is, "A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 Years."

"By the end of this one, you will have graduated from Least Developed Countries status to lower middle income status," Museveni said.

"We are now sure that by 2020, we shall have surpassed the average of 1,000 dollars per capita," he added.

The main thrust of this new NDP, according to a government statement issued here is to prioritize investment in key growth drivers with the greatest multiplier effect. This thrust builds on the first NDP which was largely based on strengthening the foundation of the economy to set the state for future economic growth and social transformation.

Its theme is "Strengthening Uganda's Competitiveness for Sustainable Wealth Creation, inclusive Growth and Employment."

The key areas that the plan will focus on are access to modern infrastructure especially roads, standard gauge railway and electricity, improving human capital, modernizing agriculture and industrialization.

Uganda is optimistic that with the completion of the construction of the Chinese funded Standard Gauge Railway linking the East African country to her neighbors and the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa, economic development will be fast tracked.

The railway line will link Uganda and its neighbors, Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan to the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa. This, according to experts is expected to lower the cost of transport which is a critical factor in the costs of production.

Government argues that with a good road and railway network coupled with cheap and adequate electricity, the cost of doing business in Uganda will greatly go down thus increasing its competitiveness in the region.

There are challenges that Uganda is destined to face as it implements this ambitious NDP.

The slow implementation of some of the core infrastructure projects that were meant to unlock the economy had affected the implementation of the first NDP. It is expected that this time there will be no repeat.

Limited access to finance to facilitate private sector development was an impediment in the implementation of the first NDP. This time government plans to recapitalize the state owned Uganda Development Bank, which will play the role of development financing.

"This is one of the core projects we want to undertake in NDP so that any Ugandan with a good business idea can have financial and technical resources," said Joseph Muvawala, Executive Director of National Planning Authority. "We want Ugandans to access loans at affordable rates of about 10 percent to 12 percent." Endi