He added that it had previously been difficult to invigilate and supervise students during examinations, due to limited space. Katunguka said the new developments would enable Kyambogo to deliver technical skills, research, knowledge and training in a conducive environment.
Former education minister Jessica Alupo commissioned the HEST construction project at Kyambogo in May 2016. Kyambogo was one of the seven beneficiaries (all public universities), taking the largest portion of the AfDB grant at $25.41m (or Shs 83.853bn).
The total grant of the HEST project as secured by the education ministry was $100m. The other beneficiaries were Makerere, Muni, Busitema, Makerere University Business School and Mbarara University of Science and Technology, and Uganda Management Institute.
Apart from construction and rehabilitation of some learning centres, Kyambogo University also used the funds to train 18 academic staff at PhD level and several administrative staff at master’s level.
The university also supported students (47) with undergraduate students’ scholarships and a further six obtained master’s degrees.
Last week, Patel Prashant, the director of Ambitious Construction Company, handed over four of the five structures under the project, to the university management and ministry officials.
These are a three-storied central library with ICT-enhanced capacity, two-storied central teaching facility, technical teacher education workshop/complex and a three-storied multi-purpose science laboratory block.
Prashant said the structures had been handed over on time and the fifth structure, a four-storied engineering workshop, would be completed by the end of November 2017.
“The university management has been very cooperative. We shall be around for the next 12 months to handle any defects that may arise,” Prashant said.
The engineering workshop is planned to comprise a traffic and transportation workshop, material testing lab, water quality lab, electrical lab, modeling rooms, fluid mechanics lab, drawing rooms, telecommunication lab, meteorology lab and a computer lab.
The commissioner for Higher Education at the ministry, Jolly Uzamukunda, commended AfDB for financing Uganda’s first and biggest higher education project over the last three centuries.
“The new face of Kyambogo means an increase in teaching space and access to higher education that will contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic transformation of the country,” Uzamukunda said, and urged the university management to establish a maintenance policy so that the structures are put to better use.
On behalf of the students, Kyambogo guild prime minister Innocent Ocaya pledged that the guild council would start continuous sensitisation programmes to ensure that the buildings are not vandalized during strikes.
“We shall talk to students one-on-one and also engage them in general assemblies. These are magnificent buildings that we have to guard jealously for the good of our university,” Ocaya said.
This academic year 2017/18, Kyambogo admitted at least 17,813 students to various programmes while more are expected to join under long-distance learning.
OTHER BUILDINGS
On his part, Timothy Ssejjoba, the deputy project coordinator of HEST, said Kyambogo has progressed well despite initial redesigning of the structures – a process that was time-consuming since the original designs ‘were not good.’
He said procurement of equipment to occupy the structures is ongoing because majority of contracts had been awarded to various companies.
“We expect in the next six months to start equipping the buildings. We believe that by the next academic year 2018/19, they should be fully functional,” Ssejjoba said, adding that construction at other public universities was also taking shape.
Ssejjoba explained that they would soon hand over structures at Makerere, Muni, Busitema and Mbarara University of Science and Technology, later this month.
However, Gulu and Lira universities, whose construction started late, were given a six-month extension. He said the handover is scheduled for February 2018. At Makerere University Business School, construction of the faculty of Business Computing was completed last year.
Meanwhile, Ssejjoba explained that there had been delays in the procurement process for the Global Distance Learning Centre building at the Uganda Management Institute. But this had been resolved and the project had finally been handed over for completion of the lecture/office block and works would last eight months.
nangonzi@observer.ug