Govt earmarks sh35b to construct water offices

By Francis Emorut                  

 

 

The ministry is currently renting premises in Luzira, Entebbe and other locations in the central business district. 

 

Water  and environment minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu said: “I am very happy that my ministry has taken on this challenge and in not a distant future. All the staff of the ministry will be operating from one central office in contrast to the current arrangement where different directorates and departments of the ministry are scattered making communication and coordination a big challenge.”

 

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The minster made the remarks during the ground breaking ceremony in Kampala where the artistic impression of the two structures was unveiled.

 

On the climate change resource centre, Kamuntu noted that it will act as the information hub for all climate change related information both locally and globally.

 

He said the centre will be equipped with state of the art information management systems to facilitate efficient access and dissemination of information especially for research purposes.

 

“Information as you all know is very vital for effective decision making but more importantly on climate change which is at the centre of the global agenda at the moment is of paramount importance,” he said.

 

He observed that the resource centre will be a national asset since other stakeholders such as academia, farmers, fishermen and others will greatly benefit from its services.

 

The head of EU delegation to Uganda, Kristian Schmidt noted that climate change is more than just hot air.

“It’s real it’s happening and it has an impact,” Schmidt said. 

 

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The ground floor will accommodate directorate of water resource management and boardroom while the first floor will have conference hall, trainees’ offices and staff offices.

 

The second floor will accommodate directorate of environment affairs and two boardrooms while the third floor will house directorate of water development and documentation centre for top management.

 

Penthouse floor will be for the minister, two state ministers and permanent secretary plus a boardroom.

The climate change resource centre will occupy two levels.

 

Ground floor will be for resource centre and staff offices while the first floor will accommodate conference hall and staff offices.

 

The second level will be state of art and auditorium with staff capacity of 700 people.

 

The two structures will be built by China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation and Excel Construction Limited respectively.