Uganda

Permanent Mission of Uganda
to the United Nations
New York
A STATEMENT
BY HON.KAHINDA OTAFIIRE,
MINISTER FOR WATER, LANDS &
ENVIRONMENT (UGANDA)
AT THE TWELFTH SESSION OF
THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION
OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
NEW YORK, 29 APRIL 2004
UGANDA
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UGANDA STATEMENT BY HON .KAHINDA OTAFIIRE, MINISTER
FOR WATER, LANDS & ENVIRONMENT (UGANDA) AT THE
TWELFTH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Chairman
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of
Uganda, I wish to thank the United Nations for organizing the twelfth
Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development .
The main focus of the Session is timely because we coliectively need
to review progress made in implementing Agenda 21 and the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) especially in attaining
the Millennium Development Goals for the water, sanitation and
Human Settlement sectors as the focus at this meeting .
Since 1997, my Government has been involved in reforming the
water sector to ensure that services are provided and managed with
increased efficiency and cost effectiveness while ensuring
sustainability and equitable development with a special focus on the
poor and other vulnerable groups in our society. Because of these
reforms and the high priority government accords the Water and
Sanitation sector, access to safe water coverage has increased from
18 .4% in the early 1990s to 55% amongst the rural population and
63% amongst the urban population by the end of 2003 . The
necessary sector policies and legislation are in place and sector
strategies are under revision in line with ongoing reforms for the
better management of our water resources and sustainable services
delivery with a stronger role of Local governments and the private
sector.
On the part of Human Settlement, the Government is reviewing the
existing Housing policy and Land reforms . A new Condominium law
has been enacted, and outdated physical planning laws and
regulations are under review to create the enabling environment and
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ensure policies of Decentralization and Liberalization are taken into
consideration .
My Government is concerned about enabling the poor access decent
shelter. We are having difficulties attracting substantial private sector
capital for large housing schemes .
However, Government is faced with major challenges of establishing
strong mechanisms for effective, efficient and sustainable delivery of
water and sanitation services to the end users . Key issues that affect
the water and sanitation sector include difficulties in implementing
reform recommendations and strategies due to inadequate financial
and human resources to meet the investment requirements and
targets in the next 15 years. Other challenges include inadequate
physical planing especially for the orderly urbanization and services
of the fast growing urban population as well as encouraging for urban
centres.
The Uganda Government is fully committed to implementing the
commitments made and adopted by the World Summit in
Johannesburg through the implementation of the Poverty Eradication
Action Plan (PEAP) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which
are the Government's national framework for planning including the
setting of priorities and allocation of resources .
This Session of the Commission therefore, gives us a unique
opportunity to review progress in implementing the JPOI with a view
to identifying constraints and collectively identify solutions . In dealing
with all this we need to create a new world order based on
partnerships and effective participation of all stakeholders within the
country, regionally and globally. We have to ensure that we provide
water and sanitation facilities to our populations especially the poor
as part of a set of inter-related interventions for their social economic
development; while protecting and using the water resources
sustainably.
The financial and technical resources needed to attain the MDGs are
enormous. While we appreciate the support by our development
partners and other funding agencies, more resources and innovative
approaches are needed . Support is also needed to enable the
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economies of developing countries, like Uganda grow to enable
themselves sustainably provide the badly needed services beyond
Aid. Without economic growth, macro-economic considerations
alone and competition by all sectors for limited resources, will make
substantial increased funding for water, human settlements and
sanitation difficult sectors .
I thank you for your attention .