Government\nhas failed to take up two offers including the construction of a convention\ncentre made by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in July last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legislators\nwere Tuesday surprised to learn that government has failed to fulfil its\nobligations required to receive the two offers, which also include the\nconstruction of a cultural centre in Jinja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government\nwas meant to provide land for the two centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During\nhis visit to Uganda, Premier Modi committed his government\u2019s support to\nconstruct a world class convention centre in Entebbe and a cultural centre in\nJinja, all named after Mahatma Ghandi, India\u2019s a civil right nonviolent\nindependence activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJinja\ndistrict local government failed to locate land for the cultural centre at the\nSource of the Nile, while the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development\nfailed to get land in Entebbe,\u201d said Government Chief Whip, Hon. Ruth\nNankabirwa during a House sitting on Tuesday, 17 September 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nankabirwa\nadded that upon the advice of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic\nDevelopment, government declined an offer of industrial machinery to support\nagricultural value addition on grounds that financing importation of such\nmachinery will worsen the national debt burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members\ncriticized government on delays to follow up the pledges and said that Uganda\nrisked losing the offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon\nAnifa Kawooya (NRM, Ssembabule district) disputed reports on failure to\nallocate land for the two centres and blamed government\u2019s laxity to fast track\noffers from the international community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn\nthe earlier years, I attended a meeting in India where Uganda was given land to\nconstruct the Uganda High Commission but up to now our government has not\nresponded and the offer elapsed,\u201d said Kawooya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon\nRobert Ntende (Ind., Bunya South) disputed the allegations of failure to\nprovide land by Jinja district local government saying that a section of\nlegislators from the region have assurance from the local government that land\nis available at the source of the Nile for the Mahatma Gandi cultural\ncentre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[We]\ninteracted with local government of Jinja, [who] say that land is available and\ngovernment is free to go and verify this,\u201d said Ntende.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliament\nis concerned that any further delays by government to provide facilities\nrequired by the donor may lead to withdrawal of the outstanding offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\ncompelled the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga to direct the Minister of\nLands, Housing and Urban Development to ascertain land availability in Jinja\nand Entebbe and report to Parliament on Thursday, 19 September 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\nwill be really deplorable for a friend like Modi to give us so much and we\ndon\u2019t use them; let the minister tell us whether land is available,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Progress\nhas however been made to meet requirements for a cancer machine and vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nankabirwa\nsaid that 88 vehicles for military and civilian use will be delivered in three\nmonths and that a cancer therapy machine has already been delivered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Government has failed to take up two offers including the construction of a convention centre made by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in July last year. Legislators were Tuesday surprised to learn that government has failed to fulfil its obligations required to receive the two offers, which also include the construction of a cultural centre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":11369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-11368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n