Investigating the initiatives that can enable local contractors improve on their capacity to win large projects in Uganda

Abstract

Foreign contractors continue to dominate Uganda’s construction industry. The government of Uganda is currently executing or has lined up massive projects for execution from high roads, electricity generating dams, mega structures in Kampala city among others. However nearly all these projects were or are being undertaken by foreign contractors. Literature has cited inadequate financial, technical and managerial capacities of Local Construction Contractors (LCC) to handle projects of enormous size as the main reasons why local contractors are losing out on large projects in Uganda. So, the main objective of this study was to investigate the initiatives which can enable LCC improve on their capacity to win large projects in Uganda. Through primary and secondary data, the study revealed challenges associated with the technical, managerial and financial capacities of LCC. The financial challenges were mainly due to inability to provide bid securities, turnover, collateral, and high interests from financial institutions. Technical and managerial challenges included lack of experience, poor management, available manpower incompetent and expensive equipment. The initiatives towards building the capacity of LCC included; government policies in line with BUBU aimed at building the capacity of LCC, revision and amendment of the procurement guidelines to create an enabling environment for LCC to compete with foreign contractors, training and mentoring, registration supplemented with continuous grading and assessment of LCC’s performance, technology transfer through joint ventures and sub-contraction