Kampala's $480M Water Project to Serve Millions by 2027

Imagine having a water treatment plant capable of serving your entire city, but the pipes to deliver it don't exist yet. That's the challenge Kampala has been facing, and it's about to change in a big way.

Millions of residents in northern and western Kampala are set to gain reliable water access through a major expansion connecting the Katosi Water Treatment Plant to the city's growing suburbs. The National Water and Sewerage Corporation, backed by €480 million from France's development agency, is racing to complete the infrastructure by July 2027.

The Katosi plant can produce 160 million liters of water daily but currently operates at just 52% capacity. The bottleneck isn't production; it's getting the water from the plant to people's homes.

The solution involves building 70 kilometers of new transmission pipelines and three major reservoirs at strategic hilltop locations across the metro area. These reservoirs, holding between one and ten million liters each, will improve water pressure and ensure steady supply to neighborhoods that have experienced intermittent service.

Right now, excavation is complete for a massive 10 million liter reservoir at Kanyanya Hill. Foundation work is underway at Mutungo Hill for an elevated steel tank, while a third reservoir at Kabulengwa Hill will begin construction in February.

Pipe laying is already happening along the Mpererwe-Kawempe-Nansana corridor, bringing water to densely populated areas. A separate transmission line serving communities like Namugongo, Buwaate, and Bulindo should be finished by December 2026.

French Ambassador Virginie Leroy toured the project last week and emphasized its importance beyond engineering. "Ensuring water production meets demand is not just an engineering challenge, it is a social and economic imperative," she said during her visit.

The Ripple Effect

The project includes a component specifically designed for Kampala's informal settlements, where reliable water has been hardest to access. Working with German development bank KfW, the initiative has already installed 1,400 prepaid public standpipes and 64 sanitation facilities serving roughly 450,000 residents in poorer neighborhoods.

Reliable water transforms entire communities. It reduces public health risks, supports business growth, and eliminates dependence on informal water vendors who often charge premium prices for inconsistent supply.

Since 2013, Uganda's National Water and Sewerage Corporation has expanded from serving 23 towns to 287 nationwide. The utility now reaches an estimated 22 million people through over one million active connections, with plans to add 100,000 more connections by 2027.

Alex Gisagara, the corporation's senior adviser for engineering services, calls this expansion "the missing link" between production capacity and actual household supply. Without transmission and storage infrastructure, even the most productive treatment plants can't deliver on their promise.

The project represents a growing trend in development finance, with the European Union and European Investment Bank also backing the expansion alongside French support. When completion arrives at decade's end, Kampala's water infrastructure will finally match its ambitions.