The Kiira Motors plant currently being constructed in Jinja by the Uganda People's Defense Forces through the National Enterprise Corporation is near completion.

The plant is set to be operationalised by December 31, 2021, to deliver the much-needed buses for the modernisation of Uganda’s mass transit systems.

The works commenced in February 2019 with the progress at 85% as of July 2021. 

Speaking during a site visit to the Kiira vehicle plant on Wednesday, Dr Monica Musenero, the minister of science and technology under the office of the president said Government has taken definitive steps towards building the indigenous motor vehicle industry in Uganda.

“The motor vehicle market is growing steadily with regional vehicle sales anticipated to reach over 630,000 vehicles annually for EAC and 10 million vehicles annually on the African continent by 2030,” Musenero said.

“The growing demand for vehicles, however, remains an untapped opportunity for domestic industrialisation and used vehicle imports continue dominating the market, leading to haemorrhaging foreign exchange of over USD450m annually,” Musenero stated. 

Paul Isaac Musasizi, the chief executive officer Kiira Motors Corporation said building the indigenous motor vehicle industry provides an unprecedented opportunity for promoting value addition to Uganda’s mineral and other natural resources with the view of import substitution and export promotion of vehicles, parts, components and systems as well as automotive engineering services. 

“This initiative is projected to create over 100,000 jobs, promote and catalyse the shift to environmentally friendly transport solutions, improve revenue collection for taxi operators, among others,” Musasizi said.