Uganda’s government has outlined an ambitious multi-year plan to dramatically widen access to clean water, with Finance Minister Henry Musasizi telling stakeholders that the roughly Shs6.8 trillion strategy, equivalent to about $1.8 billion, will be rolled out through the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) between now and 2030.
Speaking on the plan, Musasizi framed reliable access to safe water as central to both public health outcomes and the country’s broader economic ambitions, arguing that expanded coverage would reduce disease burden while underpinning agricultural and industrial production. The plan folds in several major initiatives, chief among them the Integrated Water Management and Development Project, valued at close to Shs1.3 trillion, which is expected to anchor much of the expansion effort over the coming years.
A significant share of the investment is earmarked for Greater Kampala, where authorities plan to extend water systems into areas including Ggaba as the capital’s population continues to grow faster than existing infrastructure can comfortably serve. Outside the capital, the plan places heavy emphasis on drier parts of the country, with dedicated water-for-production schemes planned for Karamoja and other areas in northern Uganda that have long struggled with unreliable rainfall and limited irrigation infrastructure.
Irrigation features prominently in the broader strategy, with projects spread across 19 districts nationally. Among the named schemes are the Atari River Basin Irrigation Scheme, budgeted at roughly Shs73 billion, and the Acomai Irrigation Scheme, valued at about Shs71 billion, alongside a number of smaller wetland and river-based irrigation systems in other districts. Officials say part of the plan also involves rolling out solar-powered irrigation systems aimed specifically at smallholder farmers, an effort to cut the country’s heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture, which has left many rural households exposed during recent dry spells.
The announcement comes as Uganda, like much of the region, contends with increasingly erratic rainfall patterns that have disrupted farming cycles and strained water systems in both urban and rural areas. By tying water infrastructure investment directly to irrigation and agricultural resilience, officials appear to be positioning the NWSC plan as both a public health intervention and a climate adaptation measure. No detailed breakdown of current national water access rates was provided alongside the announcement, though officials indicated further project-level details would be released as implementation begins, with the water ministry and NWSC expected to coordinate rollout across the identified priority regions.