The Association of Uganda Oil and Gas Service Providers (AUGOS), an umbrella body that brings together service providers in the oil and gas industry, will host a Local Content Stakeholder Dialogue in partnership with Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Service Providers (ATOGS) on March 28th-29th 2018 at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

The AUGOS-ATOGS event which will be held under the theme, ‘Unlocking local content opportunities in the oil and gas sector’, will bring together various stakeholders in Uganda’s oil and gas industry.

While making the announcement, Prof. Charles Kwesiga, AUGOS Chairman, said the dialogue will help create a meaningful discussion around full exploitation of business opportunities in the industry and enhance the capacity and readiness of service providers.

The development comes as the country moves from oil the exploration stage to development and production. This stage is estimated at approximately 20 billion dollars, peaking after 5 years.

“The production and development stage poses numerous business opportunities for the business community across a range of services including legal, financial services, training, logistics, camp management, warehousing, agriculture, to mention but a few. Whereas Ugandans have been given chance before to participate, there’s a general consensus that more needs to be done in terms of information sharing, capacity building, tender transparency as well as national participation,” Prof. Kwesiga said.

He added that the dialogue would act as a knowledge sharing platform providing the business community with the opportunity to listen to the companies that will hold the keys to the opportunities in the upstream and midstream, understand the industry regulatory framework, project financing, among other areas.

“If you are looking for information on how to participate, service requirements, skills, certification and standards, personnel, timelines and financing, then this one is a must-attend for you,” Prof. Kwesiga added.

The dialogue is being held in partnership with the Tanzanian business community under their umbrella body, Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Service Providers (ATOGS) and presents a unique opportunity to table a discussion on existing opportunities for cross border trade resulting from the Uganda-Tanzania crude oil pipeline.

The US$3.5 billion investment named East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is currently under construction and will transport crude oil from Uganda’s oil fields to the Port of Tanga, Tanzania.

“EACOP is one of the biggest infrastructure projects to be undertaken in the region. We strongly believe this dialogue is necessary to create a platform for business people in both Uganda and Tanzania to get synergies in areas where they can work together through Joint Ventures and Partnerships,” said Ombeni Sefue, Chairman, ATOGS.

Attendance to the two-day event will be by payment; US$100 for AUGOS/ATOGS members and US$200 for none members. Organizers will also have an exhibition with stalls going for US$500.

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Government has been urged to improve internet services in bid to achieve a smooth flow of trade with other countries.

The remarks were made Thursday at the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) offices by Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), while he attended today’s presentation of the National Single Window system by government.

“There is a need to improve its broadband so as to facilitate trade. Government (of Uganda) needs to treat broadband like electricity,” Dr. Kituyi advised in response to a query raised by a trader in regards to unstable network when clearing goods at the border.

The National Electronic Single Window System is a trade facilitation concept whose implementation allows traders to simultaneously submit information requirements for trade regulatory documents, such as: customs declarations; applications for import and export permits; certificates of origin; and trading invoices, through a single online portal.

The project aims at reducing transaction costs and time associated with processing documentation for selected imports and exports at key trade regulatory agencies in Uganda by 30%.

The first phase of the Electronic Single window brought under one roof 6 key government agencies involved in the import and export process.

They are Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, National Drugs Authority (NDA), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF),

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MoEMD), the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Uganda Export Promotions Board (UEPB).

According to the Private Sector Foundation Uganda 2013 report, in Uganda, as in any other developing countries, the business community involved in international trade has to regularly prepare and submit large volumes of information and documents to governmental authorities to comply with import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements.

This information and documentation often has to be submitted through several agencies, each with their own specific (manual or automated) systems and paper forms.

These extensive documentation requirements, together with their associated compliance costs, constitute serious challenges to both the government and the business community and constitute non – tariff barriers (NTBs) to the development of intra-regional and international trade.

Data capture is also duplicated as the same information is provided to different Government Agencies at various points of the importation/exportation clearance process.

“Thank you Uganda e-single window team, Uganda Coffee Development Authority and my Eastern and Southern Africa team for a fantastic meeting in Kampala. Living evidence that sound trade facilitation impacts Business and can be a game changer,” Dr. Kituyi  said at the conclusion of the presentation, further pledging to lobby for facilitation of the project.

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Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) had its projected property revenue from the central business district more than double to Shh21b this financial year, up from Shs9b the Authority raised in the year 2005.

On July 1 last year, KCCA began the valuation of properties in the central division, with over 15,000 properties estimated to raise Shs21b in the financial year 2017/18, 40 percent of which has been collected.

Fred Andema, the KCCA acting director revenue says the improved growth will help the Authority provide improved services for city dwellers including garbage collection, street lighting and maintenance of street drainage channels. Other issues to be addressed include schools, hospitals and roads.

KCCA’s valuation of properties in Kampala is being done alongside another process of property identification, where houses are assigned numbers, roads naming and installation of street lights. However, the Authority is yet to finalise assessment of over 80,000 properties in Nakawa Division.

Asuman Basalirwa, the Chairperson of the Valuation Court says landlords who are not contented with the valuation rates of their buildings always lodge their complaints to the court which sits and addresses them. He says many of them have been deposed of through dialogue and litigation.

In February 2018 KCCA published a draft valuation list for properties in 23 parishes located in the central division. Some of the parishes include Kisenyi I, Kololo I, Kololo II, Industrial Area, Kagugube, Mengo, Kitante, Lugogo, Nakasero I and Old Kampala, among others.

However, a person is not entitled to be heard by the Valuation Court unless he has lodged a notice of objection within the stipulated time of 30 days.

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The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has developed an integrated package targeting support to SMEs involved in value addition in Mukono District.

Basil Ajer, the UIA Director of SME division says this comes at a time when most SMEs collapse before they celebrate their ‘first birthday’.

Under the package, the UIA in partnership with Mukono district local government wants to support the growth of SMEs involved in small scale manufacturing such as textile, shoe-making, bakery, soap making, agro-processing, candle-making, art and craft, paper manufacturing, grain milling, making sanitary towels, production of jelly, processing of bottled water, oil seed extraction and wine processing.

UIA has profiled about 200 SMEs in the district and according to Ajer, the Authority has partnered with other agencies like Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda Insurers Association and Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority, to train the Mukono SME operators.

Under the programme, entrepreneurs who will show that their businesses are commercially viable will have their products certified.

“These are entrepreneurs who are constantly innovating, but need support to grow their businesses,” he says, adding that has already empowered some the entrepreneurs via skills training.

“The training is anchored on the needs assessment results, which point to particular challenges in the businesses that needed to be addressed,” Ajer says.

The initiative is expected to be rolled out to all regions of the country as government targets to formalize and licence all the SMEs. Government also wants to allocate the SMEs land in the industrial parks set up across the country.

A recent study shows that SMEs in Uganda face challenges such as; poor records keeping, inability to do business performance analysis, stock record management, poor branding skills, lack of knowledge o the requirements for the participation in public bids and business registration.

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