Resources for exploitation in Jinja City
Water and electricity:
There is sufficient and reliable water supply by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation from River Nile and lake Victoria serving about 80% of our population. The rest especially in the peri urban areas of Northern Division survive on protected point sources and unprotected ones.
The City is served by hydro electric power from Owen falls dam and power supply is reliable. This power covers about 90% of the City area and serves nearly 80% of our population. It is supplied by UMEME.
Social Services infrastructure
In the last 20 years, Jinja city has experienced rapid growth and expansion and is indeed undergoing social economic transformation. However, most of this growth especially in the annexed Northern Division is largely is largely been unplanned especially housing and settlements. This notwithstanding, Physical Planning including costs of plans have been standardized and the regulations are being enforced, the plan approval processes have also been improved.
Progress has been made in solid waste management with major improvements in waste collection, transportation and disposal. Waste collection has been privatized and 6 companies have been contracted, the city authority is only the regulation of the process under the Polluter Pays Principle especially in the southern Division. Efforts to roll this out in the Northern Division are underway. Indeed, the city is visibly clean. There are also on-going efforts to beautify the city including the planting of trees and flowers, landscaping and paving of walkways. Regular sweeping trimming of Road verges by road gangs also keep the help to city clean.
The street lighting of jinja city has been worked on making it one of the most lit cities in the country. Solar lighting has been introduced on the streets like Eng. Zikusooka, Main street, Source of the Nile, bell avenue, Gabula road , Nalufenya Clive Road, Masese Landing Site and Kisima Islands and, Ambercourt market, Mpumudde market Walukuba Market. Most of the roads in the central business district are lite courtesy of USMID funding and development partners like Eskom Uganda Limited, Madvhanin foundation, Orient Bank, Act Together , Ministry of Tourism and our local revenue.
Under the city road infrastructure, 8 km of roads have been widened and tarmacked, with clearly marked pedestrian walk ways and bicycle lanes on some courtesy of USMID and Uganda Road Fund .Efforts to open roads especially in the Northern Division are underway.
Commerce
Commerce and industry is the dominant component of the economy followed by the service sector, hotel business, Tourism and then agriculture. There is potential for exploiting the idle resources in the sectors of the City.
Commerce is carried out in form of wholesale and Retail trade and is mainly by private practitioners. The City plays a role in this sector through the provision of street lights, construction of roads ensuring the quality of the premises and the licensing of the business units. The various groups in this industry are expected to work in harmony with the City Council to create a favorable environment for smooth commerce. The current level of commerce in the City is fair by the country’s standards, though some improvement is required in the areas of physical places like market places, premises, etc, where commerce is carried out.
Related to commerce is processing and manufacturing sector, popularly known as the industrial sector Jinja City has for long been known as an industrial town with over 80, large scale, medium and small scale industries that employ over 8000 people and contribute handsomely to local and national revenue. Industrial development is attributed to availability of water and power for production and the location on major highways that enable both local and foreign trade. However there is need to upscale the industrial development in the Northern division especially agro processing industries in the areas of Budondo that are predominantly agricultural based.
The potential for industrial development in the City lies in the presence of land, availability of human power, presence of utilities (such as water, power as well as communication), on encouraging central government policy, large demand for industrial products and other elements of the industrial location and operation.
Construction is another key activity going on in the City. A high percentage (about 98%) of this is done by people for their own facilities mainly commercial, residential and industrial premises. The few construction activities of the city authorities are being carried out on contract/tender basis.
Agriculture is practiced on a very small scale where development has not started and on land in the open space such as compounds and road reserves. This agriculture is in the form of crop production and livestock (Zero and free range grazing, poultry and vegetable, farming. It is for both commercial (income generation) and subsistence purposes. This is privately carried out.