THE WEEK THAT HAS ENDED TODAY SHOCKED ME WITH THE NEWS: UGANDA TO START PRODUCING CARS IN 2018.
By John Agaba
Uganda will start commercial production of cars in 2018. Yes, you read it right. Uganda will start the commercial production of the Kiira EV SMACK, an improved version of the Kiira EV car, first unveiled by President Yoweri Museveni on Nov 24, 2011, in four years’ time.
This is according to Prof. Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, the Kiira EV Project principal investigator.
And the automotives (read cars) will be a hybrid blend of the conventional internal combustion engine and the electric vehicle, which means they can run on fuel and/or electric energy.
“We shall start the production in 2018, with 300 pieces a month,” Tickodri-Togboa told New Vision.
“On May 15, the Kiira EV Project received 100 acres of land at the Jinja Industrial and Business Park. We received the land to set up The Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC), the first ever automotive original equipment manufacturer in Uganda and in the East African region. This has already happened. The Corporation is already registered. What is still a challenge is the funding,” Tickodri-Togboa said.
Paul Isaac Musasizi, the project’s chief engineer, said they need about $350m to set up the whole plant and start the actual manufacturing of cars.
“We need to develop at least 19 model vehicles between now and 2018 before we can finally release our first car, entirely built in Uganda,” Musasizi said.
I thought I was dreaming.
My opinion is that Uganda should dream about manufacturing cars after a reasonable effort is made to fight poverty which should be through empowering those in the agriculture sector where majority of Ugandans are employed.
Where will Ugandans get the money to buy new cars made in Uganda? Who says Ugandans will prefer a Uganda made model (s). There may be some breakthrough in technology, this should be to help the students studying Engineering, as the economy expands and people have such purchasing power to buy new cars.
By John Agaba
Uganda will start commercial production of cars in 2018. Yes, you read it right. Uganda will start the commercial production of the Kiira EV SMACK, an improved version of the Kiira EV car, first unveiled by President Yoweri Museveni on Nov 24, 2011, in four years’ time.
This is according to Prof. Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, the Kiira EV Project principal investigator.
And the automotives (read cars) will be a hybrid blend of the conventional internal combustion engine and the electric vehicle, which means they can run on fuel and/or electric energy.
“We shall start the production in 2018, with 300 pieces a month,” Tickodri-Togboa told New Vision.
“On May 15, the Kiira EV Project received 100 acres of land at the Jinja Industrial and Business Park. We received the land to set up The Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC), the first ever automotive original equipment manufacturer in Uganda and in the East African region. This has already happened. The Corporation is already registered. What is still a challenge is the funding,” Tickodri-Togboa said.
Paul Isaac Musasizi, the project’s chief engineer, said they need about $350m to set up the whole plant and start the actual manufacturing of cars.
“We need to develop at least 19 model vehicles between now and 2018 before we can finally release our first car, entirely built in Uganda,” Musasizi said.
I thought I was dreaming.
My opinion is that Uganda should dream about manufacturing cars after a reasonable effort is made to fight poverty which should be through empowering those in the agriculture sector where majority of Ugandans are employed.
Where will Ugandans get the money to buy new cars made in Uganda? Who says Ugandans will prefer a Uganda made model (s). There may be some breakthrough in technology, this should be to help the students studying Engineering, as the economy expands and people have such purchasing power to buy new cars.
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