Key Aspects of Infrastructure Development in Uganda

Uganda holds infrastructure development as one of its key priorities, and has made tremendous efforts towards infrastructure development, within the available means. However, the need, which is constantly growing, outweighs the available resources.This paper analyses Uganda’s current and future infrastructure needs, citing obstacles to the achievement of the country’s infrastructure development goals, and proposing solutions to the cited challenges. It asserts that the key areas that require infrastructure development in Uganda include transport, communication, energy, water supply, and healthcare. It cites the main drivers of the need for infrastructural development as: high population growth, urbanization, climate change, technological advancement and, general economic growth.Among other challenges, the paper emphasizes a shortage of funds as the main obstacle to infrastructure development in Uganda; and proposes engagement in public-private partnerships as the major solution to this challenge.


Introduction
Infrastructure development is a key requirement for sustainable economic growth in any country. However, Uganda, like most developing countries, significantly faces not only future, but also current infrastructure deficiencies. The country's infrastructure, which mainly takes the form of transport, energy, communication and water systems has improved over time, but is still not sufficient enough to meet the country's development needs. This paper analyses Uganda's current and future infrastructure needs, citing obstacles to the achievement of the country's infrastructure development goals, and proposing solutions to the cited challenges.
The paper's main assertion is that Uganda undoubtedly holds infrastructural development as one of its key priorities, and has made tremendous effort to set up necessary developmental structures within its means. However, the need still outweighs the available resources. I therefore propose as a prime recommendation, that Uganda focuses on building public-private partnerships in order to meet its growing infrastructure needs, while maintaining fiscal sustainability.
The following section presents a summary of Uganda's current infrastructural state. This is followed by section 3, which discusses Uganda's future infrastructure needs and their drivers. Section 4 briefly lays out Uganda's efforts towards addressing its infrastructure needs; section 5 discusses the hindrances to infrastructural development in Uganda; section 6 proposes a way forward and; section 7 concludes.

Energy Infrastructure
Uganda has a great untapped energy potential. According to Oluwabmni (2015), the country has a hydroelectric energy potential of 2,200MW, with actual installation of only 680MW; a biomass energy potential of 1,650MW, with actual installation of only 125MW; and a solar energy potential of 200MW, with negligible actual installation. He further states that Uganda's total ascertained energy potential is 5,300MW, but actual installation only taps 810MW. The country has vast unmet energy needs; hence, the large untapped potential is a clear reflection of the enormous infrastructure shortage in the energy sector.

Communication Infrastructure
Communication infrastructure in Uganda has grown tremendously over the last decade. "Uganda's telecommunications infrastructure is increasing at a 10 percent annual growth rate" (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2017). A vast number of communication innovations have been adopted in the country, including internet usage, digital TV networks, contemporary mobile phone technology, etc. According to Uganda's Ministry of ICT (2015), several sites around Kampala and Entebbe have been connected to the National Backbone Infrastructure to provide them with access to high speed internet. The drawback in this sector is that its infrastructure development is mainly driven by multinational companies, whose interests are vested in urban area investments, from which they can get a decent return on investment. This leads to inadequate investment in communication infrastructure in Uganda's rural areas.

Water Infrastructure
Majority of Uganda's population accesses water through rudimentary means, drawing it from shallow wells, boreholes and springs. Around the major cities, there is wide coverage of the national piped water system; however, in rural areas, water infrastructure is greatly lacking.

Health Infrastructure
In its rural areas, Uganda has a huge shortage of health infrastructure. There are several hospitals and health centers scattered in the countryside, but they are not sufficient to provide healthcare to all the rural masses. Moreover, even most of the existing health facilities have big shortages of health equipment and medical workers. The shortage in health infrastructure is exuberated by the poor transport network which makes it very difficult for patients in rural areas to travel long distances from their homes to the health facilities nearest to them.

Uganda's Future Infrastructure Needs and their Drivers
The world is constantly in a state of social and economic transformation. Because of this, Uganda's infrastructural needs are expected to evolve over time. This section gives a sneak peek of the country's expected infrastructural priorities a few decades down the road, along with the expected drivers of the needs.
The key envisaged priorities include reinforcements and innovations of infrastructure in transport, energy, communication, water supply, health, industry, and other economic segments. Examples of specific projects include, construction of more hospitals, widening of existing roads, construction of fly-over roads in the city, installation of intelligent/ advanced traffic light systems to reduce traffic jam in the capital city, solar energy advancement, construction of an oil refinery, setting up infrastructure for oil energy usage, extension of piped water and sewerage systems to the entire country, creation of satellite cities, extension of the national backbone infrastructure for wider internet access, etc. The drivers of these needs are discussed below.
Uganda has a fast growing population, and its prospects of significant fertility reduction are still distant. According to the U.N. Department of Social and Economic Affairs (2015), Uganda's population is projected to grow by more than 50% between 2015 and 2030. Because of this, it is logical to presume that the higher future population will have greater energy, transport, water, healthcare, communication and social needs. All these will require fortified infrastructural development, for example, building or expanding the capacity of existing power generation dams, improving the public transport network, expanding the coverage of piped water supply, building more hospitals, etc.
The problem of high population growth is exuberated in the cities due to high levels of urbanization and motorization. Like most emerging economies, Uganda faces a big challenge of rural urban migration. Over time, this will be further fueled by climate change, whose effects are anticipated to make life close impossible in the rural areas, ceteris paribus. Climate change is expected to adversely affect agriculture and cause water shortage, and these are the key essentials for survival in rural areas; hence, the rural population will have no option but to seek refuge in the cities. The country has only a few cities, and they have insufficient infrastructure even in their present states. An influx of people from the rural areas will put more pressure on the already strained cities' infrastructure.
Additionally, climate change is projected to cause heavier seasonal rains and flooding in the country. This development has already been seen to cause flooding and paralysis of the capital city's transport network during Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1700(Paper) ISSN 2222-2855(Online) Vol.11, No.4, 2020 rainy seasons. This situation is bound to get worse over time. Hence, it calls for construction of roads with better drainage systems in order to avoid obstruction economic activity during rainy seasons. Furthermore, prolonged dry seasons will render rudimentary water extraction methods useless. Shallow wells, springs and boreholes will dry up, and this will necessitate extension of modern water and sewerage infrastructure to a larger portion of the population. Climate change will also affect hydro-electric power generation capacity, if water levels of lakes and rivers fall. This will necessitate development of infrastructure to support exploitation of different forms of energy, for example, solar and geothermal energy.
Another key driver of the country's infrastructure priorities in the near future is technological advancement. Fast growing trends in technology in almost all sectors of the economy will render a significant portion of existing infrastructure useless. This has already been experienced in areas like telecommunication. Telephone poles and other old-fashioned telecom infrastructure which were of great importance twenty years ago, are now of no use in the current mobile phone era. Needless to mention, new technological trends will come along with new infrastructure needs.
General economic growth will also play a major role in transforming the country's infrastructure needs. For example, if the economy gradually transforms from being predominantly driven by agriculture to being driven by dynamic sectors like manufacturing and services, this will require infrastructural transformation as well. This kind of infrastructural transformation will most likely be driven by the private sector, and the government will hold its ever-present role of creating an enabling environment.