Skip to main content

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT CAN BE KEY IN OUR TRANSFORMATION


I have been around long enough to see real estate development, or maldevelopment, lead to the sprawl that is Kampala today.

From atop the Skyz Hotel in Naguru, one can see as far as Mukono to the east, Entebbe to the South and Bombo to the north. At night the lights from traffic, streetlights and from residences makes it a sight to behold.

But we were here in 1986 when Kampala’s outer limits were Kibuye roundabout, Rubaga, Wandegeya, Ntinda and Nakawa.

The NRM did the smart thing and removed restrictions – rent controls, on real estate and spawned a real estate boom that has led to the dramatic expansion of the capital city’s boundaries to what they are today.

During the same period the government’s National Housing & Construction Company (NHCC) has not kept pace with private developers, be they individuals or companies developing a few dozen units.

"Official statistics suggest that there is a 550,000 deficit of acceptable quality housing in Uganda of which 160,000 is in urban areas. This last figure is the equivalent of almost 160 Bugolobi Flats estates!...

Clearly our small individual efforts are not keeping up with demand and there is no sign that demand will stop growing soon.

Is it possible that the private sector is fast reaching the end of road in how far they can meet the housing demand in Uganda?

I don’t think so, but I think more proactive involvement by government is required to not only bridge the housing deficit but also to scale up the real estate sector and drive the transformation of the economy.

Across the border from us in Kenya, as part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ambitious Big 4 plan is the intention to build 500,000 affordable housing units for Kenyans.

A promise from the last election in 2017, it’s been in design since. It will be a massive collaboration between the government and the private sector.

The government among other things will create the legal and tax framework under which it will operate, develop supporting infrastructure and create wholesale financial and mortgage institutions, while the private sector will execute the development and market it.

A rough calculation, using the cheapest unit of Ksh800,000 (sh32m) means this is at least a sh16 trillion project.

It’s a bit hard to wrap one’s mind around the numbers but even if it’s still in its conception stage, it could serve as a useful model that we in Uganda can adopt to bridge our own housing deficits.

Even assuming we just start by attempting to bridge the urban housing gap of 160,000 units the impact on our lives can be significant.

For the benefits we have to look beyond the provision of housing, which while it is the end goal is only part of the potential benefits from such a project.

"The beauty of real estate development is that, most of the inputs will come from within our borders – the labour, the cement, the paint, the tiles and even the steel. The transportation industry would also get a boost, as would many catering businesses. The ripple effect such a project would have on this economy would be huge....

In terms of jobs, workers can be skilled and retooled in a relatively short time, with skills they will use long after the initial projects have been done.

And if executed properly, may very well seed other major real estate investments around the country and accelerate the move to a middle income status country.

But clearly like in Kenya our government has got to take the lead and carry the private sector along.
The Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU) would be interested in such an initiative and be willing to help formulate the strategy and coordinate the various stakeholders required to make a success of the initiative.

The naysayers may be against government involvement warning that it may cause them to contract more debt or worse divert much needed resources from priority areas like infrastructure, education and health, but that need not be the case.

The Kenyans are pushing for a developer led financing, with government undertaking to buy all the houses once completed and will be paid by eventual owners of the houses.

Seen against the larger goal of transforming the economy a more deliberate and systematic focus on the real estate sector by government can aid in efforts to transform the economy. See housing as a catalyst and it will give the economy the Big Push.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….

Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months. Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow. The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed. Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road by continuing with school. And others may have given up altogether. My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind. In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context. First of all, the world owes you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE MUKWANO I KNEW

We have lost the greatest Ugandan entrepreneur of our time, Mr Amirali Karmali, more popularly known as Mzee Mukwano. I have known Mzee Mukwano for more than 40 years and most of what I am today is due to him. And I am not alone. "He has helped countless people through school – as he did me. Helped countless more in business – as he did me. And he has been a steadfast friend and source of support to countless more – as he was to me.... I first met Mukwano around about 1977. My mother was the secretary for the chief of operations at Uganda Airlines, a man I knew only as Hamid. Mukwano had come to charter the Uganda Airlines’ Hercules plane and I happened to be around the office then. He was a short man, an unassuming man, but clearly a serious businessman who would charter the plane to bring in goods that were in high demand here. He run a popular whole sale shop in Nakasero – Egesa Commercial Agencies, a beehive of activity and the go-to place for anythin...
Post a Comment
Read more

OUR HISTORICAL SITES SHOULD NOT GO UNATTENDED TO

Recently I was at Makerere University to attend a wedding ceremony. I hadn’t been on the university’s grounds in a while. I was shocked at how run down Mary Stuart and Lumumba Halls were. They are in need of serious work. These thoughts were reawakened with the recent launch of the coffee table book “Beyond the Reeds and Bricks” promoted by the tourism ministry, the cross cultural foundation of Uganda and the European Union Delegation. The book which is aimed at the protection of historical sites and buildings in Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja, is a moving collection of pictures of buildings and sites we know, but probably take for granted when we pass them as we go about our business. "Entebe za Mugula in Entebbe, Mackay’s Cave, the post office in Entebbe, the Stanbic Bank Branch in Jinja, Hamu Mukasa’s house in Mengo, the main building at Makerere , the Bahai Temple, Kibuli mosque and many other sites have pride of place among the 60 pictures in this book, which is ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LET US GIVE SMEs A CHANCE

Something is wrong when most of Ugandan business is shut out of the government procurement process. This is happening in Uganda today. Micro-, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for 90 percent of the private sector. These account for 65 percent of national output (GDP). On the other hand 75 percent of our now sh32trillion national budget is earmarked for public procurement but the MSMEs’ share of this action is only 15 percent. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that such numbers are behind the huge inequalities in our society and why the majority of us do not have hope of a better and brighter future. Thankfully this is not an insurmountable problem. If MSMEs had access to more opportunities accruing from the national budget the benefits to themselves and to the nation as a whole would be huge. These would include increased production which would lead to job creation, raise incomes at household levels, leading to reduced income ine...
Post a Comment
Read more

SPORTS AS AN ANALOGY FOR BUSINESS

Like everybody else I know, my spirit was lifted by the success of our athletes at the World Athletics Championships last week. The diminutive Halima Nakaayi showed the heart of a lion, sprinting over the last 100m of the women’s 800m event to snatch victory from a more favoured American runner. It was so uplifting to watch. Subsequent stories about the challenges she has had to overcome to get where she is now were testament to the determination of the woman. Joshua Cheptegei’s victory, while no less inspiring, had a different quality to it. Cheptegei was the man to watch going into the event. He won previously at the Commonwealth Games last year and the in the just concluded Golden League. He was a silver medalist in the 10,000m at the last World Championships in London, pipped to the tape by the now retired Mo Farah. Cheptgei still had to battle the Kenyans and the Ethiopians all the way. But as a favourite he lived up to expectations, which sometimes is more diffic...
Post a Comment
Read more