JINJA, UGANDA – Following His Majesty the King’s offer to use the Kingdom as a centre to sell Uganda’s state-of-the-art electric buses, government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has already sent formal request to engage the Ugandan government on the proposal.
The letter confirming the request from the Kingdom of Eswatini was revealed by Ugandan’s Minister of Works and Transport General Kathumba Wamala when the King visited the Kiira Motor Corporation here.
The vehicle assembly plant produces 2 500 buses a year, with a staff of 172 nand 12 000 indirect jobs created.
The state-of-the-art vehicle manufacturing plant is an initiative of the Ugandan government started in 2018 in a deliberate effort to promote science and technology, through the Ugandan National Enterprises Corporation.
The value of the project became more pronounced during the COVID-19 crisis, which demonstrated the need for the country to invest more in the science, technology and innovation space.
The buses manufactured here are styled Kayoola Diesel Coach, the electric Kayoola EVS, Kiira EVS and Kiira EV which are installed with WiFi, cameras and many amenities that makes the travel of short distance and long-distance travellers safe and enjoyable.
The brains behind the vehicle assembling plant is former Makerere University Professor Sandy Steven’s Tickodri-Togboa, who is now the chairman of the National Enterprises Corporation board, together with KIIRA Motors Corporation CEO Dr. Paul Musasizi, a lecturer then and students, who toyed with the idea of assembling cars back in 2007.
The genesis of Kiira Motors Corporation dates back to 2007 when a team of students and staff was part of a Vehicle Design Summit (VDS), a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) initiative with the goal of designing and producing the Vision 200 – a 5-passenger plug-in hybrid electric vehicle targeting the Indian market.
Makerere University the only participant from Africa was responsible for the design and integration of the Low Power Electronics and Data Networking Systems. The team participated, if not for the advancement of scholarship, perhaps for such simple reasons as the associated international exposure and acquisition of exciting skills in Automotive Development.
His Majesty the King and his entourage at the KIIRA Motor Corporation were taken on a ride on the electric buses and shown several models of the state-of-the-art buses the Kingdom of Eswatini will soon be marketing and selling for the sourthen Africa region market.
The King does not just want the Kingdom to be a marketer of the vehicles and buses but also become an assembling plant and also contribute to the manufacturing value chain.
Dr. Musasizi said already the demand of their buses is high and will demand that they increase their production capacity once they move to their hitech plant in Jinja.
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