Engineers in Uganda and Ethiopia have announced a partnership that seeks to boost the construction sector in the two countries for improved profitability and productivity.
Under the arrangement, the two countries will be sharing knowledge and experience as well as expertise in the sector.
This was revealed during a virtual seminar organized by the Ethiopian Embassy and Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (UNABCEC).
Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda Alemtsehay Meseret said partnerships and sharing of knowledge and skills will help improve the construction sector.
In the seminar, experts from the two countries discussed how best to tap into East Africa’s construction sector through partnerships.
Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda Alemtsehay Meseret said partnerships and sharing of knowledge and skills will help improve the construction sector.
“In the last couple of years, Ethiopia has embarked on giant construction works, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) for which the construction sector has been progressing well and capacitated local companies with knowledge, finance, and experience in the sector,” the ambassador said.
“In this regard, local companies in Ethiopia and Uganda and other companies in East Africa should combine their knowledge, expertise, and resources to capacitate themselves in order to emerge competitive in the region and beyond,” she added.
The seminar was organized under the theme; ‘Building Capacity through Partnership to Enhance Regional Competitiveness.’
James Olonya, the president of UNABCEC, acknowledged that partnerships contribute immensely toward the realization of infrastructural growth.
“Partnership and consolidation of the construction sector play a very important role to realize national agendas such as industrialization for inclusive growth and sustainable wealth creation as well as strengthening local contractors to be competitive in the region,” Olonya said.
Michael Moses Odongo, the commissioner of construction standards quality management at the Ministry of Works and Transport of Uganda, disclosed that the construction sector is a big business in Uganda and such a platform is important to create partnerships and to look into opportunities available in the region as well as to make the sector deliver better.
Esaw Maza, head of business development affairs at the Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation, said the partnerships will help East Africa to compete regionally as well as internationally.
“East African companies in the construction sector need strong partnership to build capacity and to enhance regional competitiveness,” he said.