The energy and passion that had built up over the past three years was fully evident on the morning of 18th December 2015 as officials from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports led by Mr. Robert Odok Oceng-Commissioner for Higher Education and Training officially handed over the sites to the contractor; Excel Construction Limited delegation led by the Director-Satvinder Saini and Senior Contracts Manager-Eng. P. Murali Krishna. The beneficiary of this project; Makerere University led by none other than the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Ddumba-Ssentamu was on hand to witness the handover.

The site handover was preceded by signing of a contract between the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoESTS) and Excel Construction Limited in the presence of Makerere University Officials at the Ministry head offices.

This US$29.2m allocation to Makerere University is meant to fund the five year project that was approved as a loan from the African Development Bank to the Government of Uganda in 2013 to improve science and technology in Higher Education Institutions.

The US$12.8m infrastructure development project handed over to Excel Construction Ltd is anticipated to last eighteen months with effect from December 2015. It will comprise of two four-floor buildings; one located at the former UCB slab next to the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS) and another at the slab next to the School of Social Sciences. The facilities will have centralized teaching spaces, a 1,000 seater auditorium and an E-learning Centre. The construction of the two structures is meant to address the problem of limited teaching spaces especially in the Colleges with big student numbers (College of Humanities and Social Sciences-CHUSS, College of Education and External Studies-CEES and CoBAMS). Excel Construction Limited will also renovate the: Physiology Lab in the College of Health Sciences (CHS), Chemistry Lab and centralized Diagnostics Lab based in the College of Natural Sciences-CoNAS, centralized Biotechnology Lab based in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences-CAES, Science Labs in CEES, Materials and Hydraulics Lab in the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology-CEDAT and Diary Value Chain at the Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute (MUARIK).

The institutional allocation will also cover the setting up of the initial facility at MUARIK as well as commencing the movement of CAES to the MUARIK Campus. However, the construction of this initial facility at MUARIK is slated to commence at a later time due to delays experienced with one of the contractors resulting into bidding for works separately.

The Director Estates and Works Department (EWD), Eng. Fred Nuwagaba pointed out that due diligence carried out on the two sites had determined that while the Social Sciences Slab was more than capable of taking on the weight of a four floor building, the former UCB slab at CoBAMS would have to be fully demolished and works started from scratch. He also noted that a proper traffic flow design was going to be availed to inform the campus users on areas that will have to be hoarded off for safety reasons.

Eng. Murali informed the assembly that Excel Construction Limited was pleased to take on yet another project in Makerere University as this was a vote of confidence. He pointed out that the sites were located in busy areas but stringent measures would be taken to ensure that safety is guaranteed. He hoped that the community would bear with the construction works as the contractor would try to ensure that disruption was kept to a minimum.

The Vice Chancellor Professor John Ddumba-Ssentamu called for fast but dependable works as time had already been lost and yet there was urgent need for teaching space on campus. He expressed gratitude to the African Development Bank as well as the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoESTS) for their efforts to strengthen higher education.

The Ministry’s representative, Mr. Oceng congratulated the contractor and pointed out that there was a steady increase of student numbers in universities hence the need for MoESTS to set up more public universities. This massification in higher education was likely to result in the number public universities rising to nine by February 2016. He therefore hoped that Excel Construction Limited would do credible work that would attract future interest from these growing institutions.

These buildings are expected to not only beautify Makerere University but also expansively address the longstanding problem of limited teaching facilities for the growing number of students. While students are currently utilizing former dining areas that were turned into lecture spaces in various halls of residence, the laboratories on the other hand can hardly accommodate the growing numbers of students.

Others distinguished members present at the site handover ceremony were Dr. Florence Nakayiwa (Director Planning and Development) and Laker Irene Kitara (TA and Quantity Surveyor of the ADB V-HEST). The implementation of this project at Makerere University is coordinated by the Planning and Development Department (PDD).

Article by Nancy Karunganwa, Planning and Development Department (PDD)