Three in four buildings inspected in Uganda fail construction standards, regulator tells MPs

Bwire was answering COSASE, the parliamentary committee that oversees state agencies and government-owned companies, on issues from the Auditor General's audit of that year, Uganda Radio Network reported in The Independent. Red Pepper put the number of compliant developments at 2,873. Bwire blamed local governments that do little enforcing, too few staff and too little money, a fragmented approval system and local authorities that never fully set up their building committees.

Under the Building Control Act, district and urban building committees enforce standards while the board regulates the sector and trains the committees. An assessment of 102 committees found 12% fully constituted, 82% partly constituted and 6% not set up at all. Uganda's building stock tops 12 million, Bwire said, too many for the board's limited staff to supervise. Its plan for 2025/26 through 2029/30 moves approvals and inspections onto digital systems. So far 130 committees are on them, a GIS tool tracks construction, and the board is developing inspection tools built on remote sensing and artificial intelligence.

The board was set up in 2020, when collapses were frequent in the rainy season. Bwire said collapses and deaths have since fallen and that fires are now her main problem, with 67% of the fires the board investigated caused by arson. She blamed collapses on bad building methods and substandard materials. Material cases go to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards and workmanship cases to engineering regulators.

MPs also asked about their own building site. COSASE chairperson Muwada Nkunyingi told the board to inspect Parliament's ongoing construction, including the chambers, independently; Bwire said the project had a building permit, a contractor and site supervision. Bukoto South MP Hakim Ssabula asked whether the chambers' permit had expired and been renewed, and put the reported certification bill for a simple house of about 240 square meters at Shs9.6 million. In October, Hard Hat Report covered the collapse of a church extension in Wakiso that officials said had no approved plans.