The government of Uganda together with City tycoon Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia are set to put up a joint venture- Convention Centre.
The Shs147bn project is an urgent one that must be constructed within 8-9 months because before January next year, the Convention Centre is supposed to be fully functional to host the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, followed by the South Summit of the G77 and China and other meetings.
According to the State Minister for Finance (General Duties), Henry Masasizi the project in question is a required infrastructure if Uganda is to host the NAM summit.
It must be recalled that preparations for hosting the two summits began in 2019 when Uganda was endorsed as the NAM chat from 2023 to 2025. Therefore the Convention Centre is much needed.
It is projected that once completed, the centre will comprise a 3500-seat ultra-modern auditorium, a suspended restaurant overlooking Lake Victoria and additional smaller conference rooms for sideline meetings during the NAM.
NAM is made up of 120 countries that are not aligned with any of the rival Eastern and Western power blocs and were founded during the Asia-Africa meeting in Bandung-Indonesia in 1955.
The G77 is a coalition of United Nations countries from the global south in advance of their elective economic interest therefore the government is basing on the two summits to salvage its position on the international scene.
Despite the importance and urgency of the project, the government was not able to foot its construction alone which is why Dr Sudhir came on the board to foot a given percentage. It’s from this background that the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja asked in the recent NRM caucus meeting why the government had to partner with a private investor (Dr Sudhir).
“Members demanded to know why the government was not willing to construct as own centre but instead rely on private investors,” the Prime Minister asked, according to the sources that attended the closed-door meeting.
However, NRM lawmakers including Rosemary Nyakikongoro (Sheema District Women legislator) defended the public-private partnership arguing that the government could not build facilities of such magnitude given the rate at which it constructs its structures such as Parliament’s chambers and Finance House among others.
“The Government is going to host so many meetings and yet we do not have the facilities. We need to partner with a private developer for us to move fast. The government cannot develop such a facility and complete it within time,” said Nyakikongoro.
Meanwhile, the caucus spokesperson, Brandon Kintu (Kagoma Nonth) confirmed that the matter was raised and discussed by members and it was agreed that it should be discussed further when it is presented in Parliament for approval.
However, currently, the government has since cleared all its part of the financial obligation amounting to Shs86.4bn through Uganda Development Corporation which owns shares on behalf of the Government.
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