Aiding Industrialization

Engineers operate a milling machine at the UIRI in Kampala, Uganda (COURTESY)

By Derrick Silimina

Christine Kamugyisha has realized her dream of studying engineering through her exemplary academic hard work. Kamugyisha is among the 150 young engineers who recently graduated from the Chinese-funded Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI).

Kamugyisha, 30, said it wasn’t easy to pursue a male-dominated course, and is upbeat about her prospects of building a career and being able to contribute to Uganda’s industrialization agenda.

The UIRI, a $30-million facility funded by the Chinese Government, was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni recently. It’s designed to combine industrial skills training with apprenticeship to develop skills necessary for employment. A production facility attached to the institute is also intended to make high-quality precision machine parts and accessories.

“I am living my dream because engineering is the bedrock for any developing country’s socio-economic development. Therefore, any investment in industrial research institutes is vital to improve local capacity building and expand industrialization through talents like me,” Kamugyisha told ChinAfrica.

Career advancement

Through its Machining Manufacturing Industrial Skilling Development Center, the UIRI recently hosted a career event dubbed China-Uganda Technical Skills Development and Innovation Competition, which saw 150 young engineers awarded certificates and recognized for their outstanding performances.

In collaboration with the UIRI, the contest was organized by China’s Huanggang Polytechnic College and Sichuan College of Architectural Technology. The event is aimed at boosting engineers’ skill sets in the application of appropriate technology such as conventional lathe, computer numerical control machining, welding and automatic control with programmable logic controllers.

As Africa pushes for industry-led economic growth, many countries on the continent have prioritized investment in industrial research institutes, so as to further their industrialization agenda.

For this reason, many locals in Uganda have enrolled at the UIRI, especially at the institute’s Namanve campus, which is a vocational training center. The institute has five manufacturing workshops and electronic, electrical and mechanical processing training facilities with the capacity to train up to 960 people at a time.

“I am grateful to the authorities who made it possible to host this event because it is an ideal platform for graduates like me to assess my engineering expertise with ease. Many thanks to China for having invested in this state-of-the-art facility in our country,” said Franklin Barugahare, one of the young trainees at the institute.

Barugahare, who holds a certificate in auto-mechanical engineering, said that using the skills he has acquired will benefit the country as local people can produce auto parts, thus eliminating the need to import them from abroad.

According to Ugandan Government sources, the country hopes to utilize the center as a production unit for automotive spare parts in a bid to bring down the import bill as figures show that the East African country spends $23 million annually on importing motor vehicle spare parts and $18 million on spares for motorcycles.

UIRI trainees take a group photo at a course completion ceremony in Kampala, Uganda (COURTESY)

Manufacturing push

The head of the institute Charles Kwesiga recently described the facility as the first step toward manufacturing quality products that meet international standards.

“This facility serves as the initial step of establishing modern manufacturing and that way we can get in the market with competitive high-quality products,” Kwesiga said during the launch of the facility in January last year.

It is a fact that Sub-Saharan Africa is the least industrialized of the world’s sub-regions, hence there is the pressing need to accelerate economic expansion through the establishment of an industrial base for the export of finished agricultural and mineral products.

Some scholars argue that industrialization is a crucial component of socio-economic development, so much so that without manufacturing, Africa’s national economies cannot begin to effectively control and utilize their resources for meeting the needs of their populations.

Arguably, in order to develop indigenous manufacturing capabilities, African countries need access to technology which can be better achieved through China-Africa economic collaboration, and the Asian economic giant is doing just that so that most African countries can attain their industrialization aspirations.

It is for this reason that the Government of Uganda has made a commitment to working with private sector, academia and development partners to ensure that spare parts of trucks, pickups, SUVs, two or three wheelers and tractors are made locally by Uganda’s engineers and technicians.

President Museveni recently predicted that the East African country will be producing at least half a million vehicles per year by 2030, in a move aimed at promoting import substitution in the automotive industry, and is expected to employ over 100,000 locals.

Progressively, the government has funded the construction of the Kiira Vehicle Plant that sits on 100 acres (40.47 hectares) of land at the Jinja Industrial and Business Park and already, the Kiira EV and Kayoola buses have conducted test drives.

Zheng Zhimin, one of the Chinese tutors at the UIRI, recently hinted that hands-on experience among his learners is key to operating hi-tech machinery.

“We are changing from the conventional way of doing things to the more automated way. It is very easy to make more intricate parts,” said Zheng, an industrial engineering expert.

Museveni has since urged Ugandans to fully utilize the Namanve-based facility by developing skills that will help them achieve prosperity.

“Africans have slept enough. You should wake up and don’t miss out. Use this important facility because it can make many things, including design and machines,” Museveni noted during the commissioning ceremony of the UIRI.