The pledge was made by Vice President Jessica Alupo during the commemoration of the World Engineering day at Hotel Africana in Kampala recently. The day was marked under the theme, “Build Back Wiser – Engineering the Future.”
Alupo said the government will continue working with stakeholders in the engineering sector to review the Engineers’ Registration Act 1969 for legislative action to be undertaken and other related bills and policies such as the National Construction Industry Policy also be reviewed and updated.
“To address some of the challenges faced by engineers, the policy and regulatory framework needs to be improved with repeal of outdated laws and enactment of new legislations. I pledge government’s full support and action towards ensuring a better policy and regulatory framework for the engineering professionals in the country,” she said.
She further revealed that the government, through its ministries, will undertake regular update of engineering standards for design and construction of roads, buildings, water works, sewerage treatment, power dams and other public infrastructure to ensure that engineering is practiced using up-to-date design codes, specifications and guidelines.
Alupo, therefore, requested the engineers to identify aspects of the engineering practice that have hindered their professional work and require improvement so that government makes the necessary improvements which will be applied towards better implementation of the NDP III to ensure that they address both the present and future needs of the people for sustainable development.
The minister of Works and Transport, Edward Katumba Wamala, also assured engineers that the government is at the forefront of ensuring that the engineering professionals are adequately trained, facilitated, remunerated and offered the opportunity to provide the best professional services to their country.
“The Engineering Registration Act of 1969 is being repealed to provide for a stronger and effective legal framework that will address the present challenges such as the current low registration, poor access to industrial training especially for the young upcoming engineers and internship opportunities by engineering students. The Construction Industry Regulation and Development Bill is also under preparation and will be enacted into law in the near future,” he said.
Katumba noted that under the National Development Plan III, there is focus on promotion of local content in the construction industry, access to affordable credit which is still a very big challenge to the local constructors, access to construction equipment, construction industry skills, and promotion of large-scale production of construction equipment, among others.
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