To address the industrial skills gap in Uganda, the Government of Japan, the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) and UNIDO, with technical support from Japanese partner Komatsu Ltd., are building the first dedicated training centre for road construction equipment operators in Uganda, METRAC (Mechanical Engineering Training and Advisory Centre – Luwero).

In recent years, the Government has procured road construction and maintenance equipment such as motor graders, wheel loaders, excavators, bulldozers and backhoes and distributed them to District Local Governments across the country. METRAC will allow matching this investment in road machinery with an equivalent investment in human resources: within the next two years, the training centre will train over 500 Ugandan road equipment trainers, operators and youth seeking employment.

From 2 to 6 August, the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) as the responsible authority under the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), and UNIDO conducted the first fully digital curriculum development workshop in the history of Uganda. The 5-day workshop with industry experts was held to develop a new curriculum / Assessment and Training Package (ATP) for road construction equipment operator trainers at level 4 of the Uganda Vocational Qualification Framework (UVQF). The ATP was successfully developed and approved by MoES, and will serve as a curriculum outline and assessment basis for the training of 50 MoWT trainers undertaken by METRAC. In addition, the curriculum will serve as the basis for any future training of road construction equipment operator trainers in Uganda.

The Minister of State for Higher Education, Hon. Dr. John Chrysestom Muyingo; the Ag. Director of DIT, Mr. Patrick Byakatonda; and the UNIDO Project Coordinator, Mr. Stefan Windberger, as well as MoES and MoWT stakeholders officially launched the ATP on 30 September at the headquarters of DIT in Kampala.

In order to prepare for the upcoming training, the UNIDO Country Representative Mr. Bruno Otto Tokwiny had already handed over one WorksiteVR Simulator for the Komatsu wheel loader and two WorksiteVR Simulators for the Komatsu hydraulic excavator to MoWT representatives on 11 August. These simulators were donated to METRAC by Komatsu Ltd. and will support the training of wheel loader and excavator trainers and operators working for MoWT across Uganda.