President Museveni Friday said his government had agreed with neighbouring countries like DR Congo to jointly develop infrastructure that will boost trade in the region.
However, the proposal recently received criticism.
In his Independence address at State House, Entebbe the president described the critics as shameless, arguing that Uganda “badly needs” the Shs243.7 billion ($65.9m) road projects.
“I saw some shameless people in parliament saying, this stupid man Museveni: why are you building roads in Congo yet our roads have problems. We’ve reached an agreement to develop infrastructure with our trade partners in the region like Congo. We are earning about USD 500 million a year from DRC. How can you stop me from partnering with DRC to develop roads there that support our trade? The terrible roads are hindering business,” he said before adding that government also plans to sell electricity to DRC.
According to the president, the road projects in DRC will earn Uganda income through trade, which income will in turn be used to construct the poor roads in Uganda.
The 223km road to be constructed consists of the Kasindi section at the border to Beni (80km) plus the integration of the Beni-Butembo stretch (54km). It also consists of the Bunagana to Rutsuru-Goma Road (89km). Advertisement
In his Independence speech, the president also reiterated that Uganda will start manufacturing own cars.
“I no longer want to hear about imported and assembled busses. We are going to make them ourselves. Under Kiira Motor corporation project, two electric busses have already been made,” Museveni said.
He said government had prioritised investment in science and innovation.
“We have an educated human resource and a portion of the economy will be built from their intellect”
According to him, government plans to set up a specialised agricultural bank that will be able to give affordable capital to Ugandan farmers.
“We are thinking of setting up an agricultural bank in Uganda because the commercial banks we have are really commercial banks. They are there to fund traders who go to china and to bring taka-taka (trash),” Mr Museveni added.
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