Transforming Uganda's landscape
The ambit of the programme broadened significantly during the additional financing phase, encompassing an added eight municipalities
In a bid to revolutionise urban development, Uganda embarked on the ground-breaking Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme in 2013.
Originally planned for five years, the programme had a remarkable impact on the implementing local governments. The lands, housing and urban development ministry, which supervised the project, earned an extension of the programme until December 2023, through an additional financing phase of the same programme, with an expanded geographical coverage zone and a bigger budget.
The initial phase, bolstered by a $138m fund allocation, had been only channelled into 14 programme participating municipal local governments, propelling infrastructure development and capacity building. Notably, 10 of these locales were, five years later, elevated to city status, a testament to the strides made during the USMID journey. Initiated in September 2013, the USMID programme was a Programme for Results (PforR) venture, underpinned by funding from the World Bank.
This distinctive lending approach tethered disbursements to the performance of local governments, instilling results-driven ethos. This methodology endured through the additional financing phase, which commenced in April 2019, strengthened by a total funding injection of $360m, inclusive of a $25m grant. As the year comes to a close, this transformative phase is poised to draw to a close, even as the leaders in the implementing local governments ask for more.
“The local government does not have enough money to do what the USMID fund has done. There are limited funds to complete the construction works that are ongoing in their respective areas. Our appeal is that the World Bank accepts our plea to extend the programme for another year,” Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the mayor of Mbarara city says.
The then initial 14 municipalities that benefited from the programme were Tororo, Moroto, Soroti, Mbale, Jinja, Kabale, Masaka, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Gulu, Arua, Lira, Hoima and Entebbe. Apart from Entebbe, Tororo, Kabale and Moroto, the rest are now cities, while the 33 local governments that are implementing the project are now categorised as cities, municipalities and district local governments hosting refugees.
Some of these are 10 cities that are hosting refugees, include Gulu, Arua, Hoima, Fort Portal, Mbarara, Masaka, Lira, Soroti, Jinja and Mbale. The 12 municipalities include Tororo, Moroto, Kabale, Entebbe, Ntungamo, Kasese, Mubende, Lugazi, Kamuli, Kitgum, Busia, and Apac. Eleven refugee hosting districts: Kamwenge, Isingiro, Kiryandongo, Moyo, Obongi, Arua, Terego, Madi-Okollo, Lamwo, Yumbe and Adjumani.
HORIZONS EXPAND: FROM 14 - 33
The ambit of the programme broadened significantly during the additional financing phase, encompassing an added eight municipalities and extending support to 11 refugee hosting districts that were reported to be grappling with a high influx of refugees. This expansion heralded a multifaceted approach, spanning infrastructure, bolstering social cohesion, systematic land adjudication, and titling, and strategic land planning for host communities.
At the heart of USMID’s resounding success lies a meticulously arranged implementation framework that is anchored on a steering committee chaired by the permanent secretary/ Secretary to the Treasury in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, a programme technical committee chaired by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, and comprising 16 members, pooled from 12 different ministries, departments and agencies and these are:
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