The kingdom of Buganda is seeking investors it can partner with to exploit the vast natural resources at its disposal.
The kingdom has abundant resources that can support sectors such as real estate, hospitality and tourism.
Speaking at the Buganda Investment Forum held in Kampala recently, Charles Peter Mayiga, the kingdom’s premier, said Buganda is looking for potential investors in the different sectors, ranging from real estate, leisure and hospitality, and telecommunication, among others.
“Buganda kingdom has a lot of land constituted with water, forests and special stones. Some pieces are in the capital city and other urban centres, very prime for development while the rural areas have big chunks of [arable] land for commercial farming,” he said.
Mayiga also said that land has been set aside to construct low-cost housing units in the suburbs of the city, where some 940 units are planned to be built.
“We have come up with available opportunities for constructing low-income and affordable homes; we have earmarked 204 acres of land for this project,” Mayiga said.
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David Kyewalabye Male, the managing director, Buganda Land Board (BLB), said they have the capacity to spur development.
“BLB Ltd has necessary structures and programmes in place that can be considered to jumpstart this economic development. Bibanja owners that are financially constrained can get the help of financial institutions to acquire land titles,” he said.
EXPERT’S TAKE
John Musajjakawa, a senior investment executive at the Investment Promotion Division of Uganda Investment Authority, said Uganda’s population stands at approximately 35 million people, growing at a rate of three per cent annually with an urbanization rate of approximately 5.2 per cent per year.
“With investment on housing and construction, the expected impact of Buganda kingdom in housing developments will create affordable and well-planned,” he said.
Musajjakawa explained that real estate is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Uganda, which also creates jobs. Judy Rugasira, the managing director, Knight Frank Uganda, said Uganda’s housing deficit stands at 1.6 million units.
She explained: “There are challenges in developing affordable housing in Uganda because of the absence of long-term funding schemes within the domestic banking system, while high interest rates continue to constrain the growth of the housing finance.
“According to the KPDP 2012, up to 69 per cent of Kampala’s population live in rented accommodation and that is a target market,” she said.
Rugasira added; “In total Kampala has to gear up to provide between 700,000 and 800,000 new housing units comprising over 400,000 of middle to high-income houses and 300,000 of affordable standard over the coming decade.”
PARTNERSHIPS
Ronald Sebuwufu, the chief executive officer of Buganda Investments and Commercial Undertakings Ltd, explained that this would not be the first time the kingdom is seeking investors.
“We have had partnerships with companies like Airtel and Uganda Breweries Ltd. In fact with UBL, our target was to sell 54,000 crates [of Engule beer] in the first three months, but we ended up selling 150,000 creates,” he said.
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