With a goal of raising $73 million for the construction of the Uganda Heart Institute, the government has agreed to a $20 million deal with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).
During the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Egypt on May 23, Mr. Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, and Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, the director general of BADEA, signed this financing agreement.
In February, Parliament approved the government’s request for a loan of billion ($70 million) for the construction of the facility that will sit on a 10-acre land in Naguru, Kampala.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), and BADEA, among others, will all contribute to the project’s co-financing, according to Mr. Kasaija.
$30 million will be contributed by SFD, $20 million by OFID, and $20 million by BADEA.
“The construction and equipping of the Uganda Heart Institute project will cost $70 million. Each financier will be co-financing the project,” Mr. Kasaija said after signing the agreement.
The government will contribute $3 million, primarily to finance project management tasks and consulting services for all research, creation, and construction oversight.
The facility will house a 250-bed cardiac centre, according to Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health. She said Ugandan records show 25 percent of the population has hypertension while 8 percent have diabetes.
Dr. Aceng claims that the project is in line with the health-related projects in the National Development Plan III, which is in line with Vision 2040.
According to the project brief, the overall project will have a clinical block with a total area of about 24,130 sqm which consists of two basements, one ground floor, and nine typical floors; a research and laboratories block, consisting of a basement, a ground floor, and nine typical floors.
The construction will begin in the middle of this year after the government secures funding, according to Dr. John Omagino, executive director of the UHI, who spoke to this publication in February.