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Vehicle manufacturing in Africa has witnessed growth with the emergence of many African automobile manufacturers rolling out vehicles out of their assemblies, some of these automobiles include; Kenya’s Mobius Motors, Nigeria’s Innoson motors, Ghana’s Kantanka cars among others.
Uganda has also not been left behind, its automobile manufacturer, Kiira Motors Corporation has not only announced plans to begin production of approximately 5,000 vehicles yearly, but the firm is also working on electric cars.
The East African nation is bracing for a cleaner and less pollutant city, the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) announced that it will begin using electric buses in December.
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KCCA has said that it will begin piloting the public transportation system in Kampala using two Kiira Motors Corporation electric buses under a project underwritten by a Chinese technology partner.
In July, the automobile manufacturer announced that Ugandan engineers were in China working with the bus manufacturer.
Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) chief executive officer, Paul Isaac Musasizi said that the project is meant to provide solutions to transportation challenges in the city ranging from the increased air pollution, lack of adequate infrastructure and increased growth in motor traffic.
“The project is in line with KCCA’s Multi-Modal Urban Transport Master Plan 2018/2040 designed to guide the development of a sustainable transport system in Kampala,” he said.
The KMC boss, further said that the project will receive financing through a facility from the African Development Bank.
“It will initially cover 16 km with 100 Eco-Buses that will be increased to 500 to cover the entire Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.
“It will use dedicated lanes covering the ring road from the Constitutional Square–Nakawa-Ntinda via Stretcher Road-Bukoto-Mulago-Wandegeya and back to the Constitutional Square,” he told the Observer.
Two months ago, the firm said that it had started working on its first USD 263 Mn car factory by mid-2021.
The company has so far received an initial investment of USD 40 Mn in seed funding for the 150,000 unit facility, according to CEO, Isaac Paul Musasizi, the firm is leveraging on partners who will supply technology, an equity stake in the plant or undertaking of joint ventures.
“We should be in a position to encourage the purchase and driving of locally made cars whose prices should be competitive. Government officials and Ugandans should be in a position to drive cars produced by Kiira Motors with pride just like it is in Malaysia and other vehicle producing countries,” he said.
KMC is an automobile manufacturer state enterprise which is mandated to implement the commercialization of the Kiira Electric Vehicle Project, championing the value addition in the domestic automotive industry for job and wealth creation.
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