Germany to spend sh98b on 40 solar mini-grids in Uganda

Patrick Ocailp, deputy secretary to the treasury and Niels Breyer, director for East Africa at Germany's federal ministry of development cooperationexchanging  the new framework agreement. Photos by Badru Katumba

The German Government will provide €23.2m (sh98.7b) to Uganda for the development of 40 solar-powered mini-grids in rural areas over the next two years (2019 and 2020).

The funding is part of a new financing framework unveiled on Friday, in which Germany will extend development grants to Uganda worth €69.5m (about sh295b).

Niels Breyer, director for East Africa at Germany's federal ministry of development cooperation, and Patrick Ocailap, the deputy secretary to the treasury, signed the new framework agreement.

The Germany delegation led by Niels Breyer and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development delegation led Patrick Ocailap

The construction of power grids is part of efforts to extend electricity to underserved villages, for both consumption and commercial use by small scale industries.

Breyer said the new funding framework was informed by Uganda's National Development Plan II and Germany's Marshall-Plan with Africa.

The funding, which comes in form of grants, will cover projects in several fields including renewable energy and energy efficiency, education, rural development and food security.

Other areas include: water and sanitation, governance and civil society, accountability, human rights and civil society, refugees and their host communities.

Germany's bilateral programmes are implemented by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the German Development Bank (kfw).