The government through the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), the investment arm of the country, is building the capacity of domestic investors to ensure they benefit from the oil and gas sector.
Robert Mukiza, the UIA Executive Director says that through their domestic investment division, his team is already working on building the capacity of the local firms to influence the opportunities in the sector.
The Government on Monday, February 28, awarded the Joint Venture Partners made up of Ugandans and Ugandan companies, for their contribution towards the signing of the Final Investment Decision (FID) at the beginning of February 2022.
During an event held at Serena Hotel Kampala Tuesday, March 1st, Mukiza said that the award was aimed at recognizing some of the key players in the sector’s journey, in line with the authority’s mandate of promoting, attracting, advocating, facilitating, registering, monitoring and evaluating all forms of investment in Uganda.
Mukiza said FID is a historical milestone that will see the country attract the single largest investment ever of approximately $10-$15bn, into the country.
Uganda stands to benefit an estimated $4.2bn from the contracts according to the UIA Executive Director.
“But this cannot happen without sufficient capacity building. The UIA is therefore keen, through its domestic investment division, to facilitate backward and forward linkages among local and international firms, in addition to building capacity of local firms to leverage the opportunities in the sector,” Mukiza added.
He further stressed that UIA dedicated the year 2022, to domestic investment.
The State Minister of finance for Investment and Privatization, Evelyn Anite Kajik, said to ensure the Ugandan entities also benefit from direct and indirect opportunities, the government has ring-fenced over 16 fields for local domestic investors.
“As the government of Uganda, we recognize that many domestic investors and small-medium enterprises experience supply-side constraints that are likely to limit their participation in the sector, the re-fenced opportunities notwithstanding,” she noted.
To counter this, Honorable Anite said the government is implementing a range of capacity-building initiatives and setting up a National Local Content Fund to improve the ability of locals to win and execute on contracts in the sector.
