01 February 2023

Uganda’s Parliament has approved a US$140 million loan with funds earmarked for a major digital project to improve internet connectivity in the East Africa nation. Parliament approved the loan, equivalent to 523 billion Ugandan shillings, to finance the Uganda Digital Acceleration Project (UDAP).

If implemented, the project will go a long way in improving connectivity in the country.

“The project is intended to ensure that high bandwidth data connectivity is available in all major towns of Uganda at a reasonable rate; and electronic government infrastructure aimed at reducing the cost of doing business in government, improving communications between government agencies and reducing the need for officials to commute for meetings and thereby increasing efficiency,” said John Bosco Ikojo, the chairperson of the Committee on National Economy.

The approved loan comes with an up to $60 million grant element and will be sourced from the International Development Authority of the World Bank.

The key areas that the UDAP project will cover include establishing national fibre backbone infrastructure, establishing a government data centre and a district information centre, and connecting all government ministries to a single wide area network and government e-platform.