Assessment of Groundwater Investigations and Borehole Drilling Capacity in Uganda

The questionnaires, interviews and workshop revealed the following:

1. The current implementation environment for borehole drilling in Uganda is not conducive for a cost efficient and cost effective implementation of borehole drilling projects nor for a sustainable development of the sector.

2. The prices for boreholes depend on the costs for boreholes made by the drillers. Lower prices can only be attained if drillers can drill more boreholes per rig and/or per year.

3. Quality of works can only be ensured by a regulated environment where qualified and professional consultants, drillers and implementing agency staff work hand in hand aiming at high quality end products.

4. The major problems in the sector are the decentralized and fragmented implementation of water projects with very narrow implementation windows, the unfavourable tax environment and the lack of regulation.

5. Government, NGO and private sector staff now commonly demand commissions from drilling contractors as well as consultants, which is a real danger for sustainable development of the water sector.

6. The technical capacity of drillers and consultants is sufficient to implement standard rural water supply projects. Larger projects, and more complicated town water supplies involving different siting approaches, larger size drilling and greater logistical challenges can only implemented by few contractors and consultants.

The government should regulate and support the sector more vigorously, as follows:

1. License consultancy companies and groundwater professionals

2. Design standard technical protocols for drilling projects and hydrogeological investigations

3. Set up a performance monitoring system for contractors and consultants including regular field audits of work done by drillers and consultants

4. Improve compliance and enforcement of water laws, permits and licensing conditions for the various stakeholders (drillers, groundwater professionals, districts, NGOs, etc) like:

a. Closer monitoring of District tender awards and issued contract types

b. Closer monitoring of NGOs and enforce implementation procedures according to standard documents

c. Link license extensions of drillers and groundwater professional to performance

5. Improve protocols for tender procedures including introduction of engineer’s estimates, standard tender documents to be used by all actors in sector (NGOs, Districts, Central government, multi-lateral and bi-lateral funded projects)

6. Review the implementation framework for drilling projects considering multi-year projects and more favorable payment schedules

7. Review taxation framework for the sector

8. Facilitate access to credit for drillers and consultants

9. Set up training programmes for drillers and groundwater professionals to improve their capacities (collaborate with private sector) as well as setting up specialized technical schools and courses The drillers and groundwater consultants should revitalize or start their association to enable a more vigorous lobbying for their interests when working on a professional development of the sector.