BUCKLE UP, THERE IS STILL A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE

Little mentioned in the press, but since the beginning of the month the contractors have been impounding the reservoir at the $590m Isimba hydro-electric power dam.

Impounding, I learnt, is the act of filling the dam reservoir with water. It is estimated that it will take about two weeks to fill. This ahead of the anticipated commissioning of the 183 MW dam early next year.

Not unlike watching paint dry, I imagine, but this event is still an exciting time for all concerned.

While this was going on I paid a visit to the Karuma dam in northern Uganda. The finishing touches are being done at the dam, which will produce almost thrice as much power as Isimba dam.

"The $2.2b project has been in development since 2014 and is only the second of its kind on the continent, the other being the Ruacana power station in Namibia...

The unique feat of engineering will see water from the Nile diverted down the to the power station that is almost 100 meters underground, before the water is then ejected about 8 km downstream to re-join the river on its journey to the Mediterranean.

I simplify, of course.

Deep in the bowels of the dam – they say enough rock to fill 15 Nambole stadiums was excavated to make it happen, it hit me like a sledge hammer how much more work this country needs to do.

If the target is to generate 17,000 MW or the equivalent of 28 more Karumas, in the next ten years we are way behind schedule.

For starters going by the current average of $3m per MW cost this ambition will cost $51b or twice the size of the Ugandan economy to make it happen. Just makes you want to lie down and give up doesn’t it?

But giving up is not an option given that the population is set to double every 24 years.

Over the last three decades the economy has grown at an average of six percent during that time the economy has grown almost six fold to the current $25b but poverty persists among many Ugandans, as unemployment grows every year and the cost of living rises.

This only makes sense when you understand that a small part of the population, the educated urban elite, have benefitted disproportionately compared to the rest of the mostly rural population. They have enjoyed rising incomes and improved social services, which add up in many cases to upper middle income economy lifestyles and in some cases even first world lifestyles.

A major reason for this is the concentration of infrastructure and services in the urban areas especially in Kampala.

Unlike in the rural areas where people still need to walk some distance to a health center or a school or even a water source in Kampala everything is within easy reach and now more and more a few clicks on your phone away.

This access to everything to the already educated has a compounding effect on their standard of living which sets them far apart from their rural cousins.

"In order for the rural populations to play catch up we need, no must, increase electricity coverage nationwide. Access to electricity would ensure better health services – incubators, oxygen machines, refrigerators, theatre lights are all powered by electricity; better education achievement – kids would be able to study longer; more agro processing facilities to suck up rural produce and hence higher incomes....

That the growth has not be spread more evenly – using access to electricity as a measure, means we have a long way to go and particularly in financing these much needed projects.

Two key things have to happen. One, we need to step our resource mobilisation, not only local tax revenues but also our ability to save. Secondly, we have to ensure that the relevant agencies to deliver these infrastructure projects are well manned and resourced.

For starters we do not have the resources locally to generate all the power we need, but with improved tax collections we would be able to afford to borrow a significant proportion of it. The people arguing that we are borrowing too much have it wrong, we actually are not borrowing enough to bridge our infrastructure gap. This due to our low revenue collections – about 14 percent of GDP compared to a sub Saharan average of 16 percent, this alone puts a cap on our ability to repay the loans and hence not make us a very bankable proposition.

Given the growing economy and our huge informal sector just tweaking the political will to collect from more people from whom tax is due would go a long way to resolving our revenue issues.

And the second point about competent agencies that would deliver on this project is why the current slapdash attempts at rationalising government are dangerous. Enough said.