The objective of the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Program Project (USMID) is to enhance the institutional performance of program Local Governments (LGs) to improve urban service delivery.
The core of the program will comprise two grant flows to Municipalities: (i) the Municipal Development Grant (MDG) which will provide substantial additional funds to the targeted Municipalities for investment in urban infrastructure, designed in such a way as to leverage and incentivize improved institutional and delivery performance of these bodies; (ii) the Municipal Capacity Building Grant (MCBG), amounting to about 7 percent of the MDG, which will provide Municipalities with the resources to access the capacity building inputs that are required for them to achieve the performance that the MDG will incentivize.
The program will also involve a range of administration, oversight and support activities to be undertaken by the relevant central government entities responsible for the various elements of the implementation of the Program. The first phase of the USMID will run over a period of six years (FY 2013/14-FY 2018/19) at a total cost of US$160 million. The main aim of the program is to enhance the capacity of the targeted municipalities to improve urban service delivery in the context of a rapidly urbanizing society in which significant service delivery responsibilities have been decentralized.
Martin Onyach-Olaa, senior urban specialist, world bank says that there is need to develop the core infrastructure of the municipal councils around the country so as to spur economic growth such as roads, hospitals and schools which in turn attract people to come and engage in trade. Towns like Gulu have expanded from previously having only 40km of road network to now having more than 200km.
The development of this infrastructure attracts vehicles and people to use them to access services. People are now able to relocate to these areas. Residents can now build shops , hotels and rentals to accommodate the traders. Street ligthing has enabled people to extend working hours beyond early evening with security guaranteed. Boda Boda and Taxi drivers can drive their vehicles longer without needing constant servicing due to the good road conditions.
The reduced cost of delivering farm produce to the market has also had a positive impact on inflation which drives the price other services and products. This has offered opportunities to groups such as women to provide and afford education for their children which contributes to development.
Martin Onyach-Olaa further encouraged locals to embrace the projects as their own and look after them jealously and not as donations from the World Bank and disregard politicians that want to discredit the government in-spite of the visible infrastructural improvements. He also states that the future of Uganda depends on how the Municipalities are managed and
Municipalities are also able to gain revenue from these projects and the business opportunities to further develop other areas not covered under the project. They also argue that the people can now see the value of taxes and are encouraged to fulfill their civil obligations.
Uganda’s urban population is set to grow to over 32M up from the current 6M by 2050 according to the World Bank Statistics
