METRAC, UGANDA

Since 1986, the Government of Uganda has focused on the improvement of transport infrastructure to accelerate economic development. In 2015, the Government invested around USD 155 million to purchase a total of 1,151 road construction equipment units from Japanese companies. However, a commensurate investment in human resources to properly operate the equipment has not been made at the time, resulting in a number of machine failures caused by improper operations. Simultaneously, skilled road equipment operators are highly sought after, as this profession is not yet taught at Uganda’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

To bridge the industrial skills gap for road equipment operators in Uganda, UNIDO is working with the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) on the establishment of the country’s first training centre for road construction equipment operators and the development of new curricula.

The project “Mechanical Engineering Training and Advisory Centre” (METRAC) in Luwero will include training-of-trainers (ToT) workshops for MoWT instructional staff and assist them in training the MoWT and local government operators as well as Ugandan youth. Together with the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), the project partners developed Uganda’s first accredited curriculum on road construction equipment and trained its pioneering group of construction equipment instructors. The project focuses on inclusive and sustainable industrial development by forging strong partnerships with private sector companies such as Komatsu Ltd.