Kasaija warns on absence of local content in construction projects

Kampala - Uganda's housing deficit and rapid public sector infrastructure spend has created opportunities for construction but there are still concerns on local content.
Mr Matia Kasaija, the Finance minister on Wednesday raised concerns over the high level of imports in the construction sector even in the construction sector.

"My heart bleeds as your minister finance seeing so much imported building materials here. That is costing us so much forex. Business community, please use local raw materials from here (Uganda) and that could even reduce of construction," he told delegates at Uganda Housing Finance Conference on Wednesday.
He was in particular pointing out that the imported materials were partly to blame for the high construction costs in the country. He also called on developers to carryout research on how to bring down costs of construction by looking at materials used in the process.

Uganda will need about 200,000 units annually between 2016 and 2019 to match the demand for housing. Mr Mathias Katamba, the chief executive officer, Housing Finance Bank Uganda noted that there is still lack of affordable housing in the market because the developers are looking at high value property.
"The challenge is not demand. It is largely a supply issue. Our customers are usually looking out for properties priced between Shs100m and Shs180m. The properties on the market are above the Shs200m mark. That is not affordable for most Ugandans even if they were to take a mortgage," he says.
The government has revealed plans to recapitalise Housing Finance Bank Uganda and National Housing and Construction Company in order bring down the cost of mortgages and construction respectively.

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