Uganda Launches US$200 Million PIM-Plus Programme to Strengthen Public Investment Performance

Uganda has officially launched the PIM-Plus Operation, a US$200 million results-based programme aimed at transforming how the country plans, prepares, and manages public investments. The launch, held at the Kampala Serena Hotel, was presided over by the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, who described the initiative as a major step toward improving the efficiency and accountability of government projects.

During his address, the PS said the programme marks “a pivotal moment in the transformation of Uganda’s public investment landscape,” explaining that PIM-Plus is not a traditional project-financing model. Instead, it is a Programme for Results (PforR), where funds are released only after government meets agreed performance indicators. “We earn resources not by spending, but by improving our processes and institutions,” he noted, adding that this approach strengthens systems rather than activities.

He pointed out that Uganda has seen the benefits of similar results-based operations over the past decade through programmes like UgIFT, the Municipal Infrastructure Development Project, and the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme. According to him, PIM-Plus builds on these lessons and is deliberately designed to fix long-standing bottlenecks such as weak project preparation, delays in execution, poor maintenance, and climate-related losses estimated at over US$140 million annually. As part of its design, the programme will channel US$40 million to the National Planning Authority’s Project Preparation Facility to ensure better readiness of major investments.

The PS highlighted several key targets the programme aims to achieve by 2031, including increasing timely project performance, expanding public access to annual project reports, improving asset monitoring across central and local governments, and raising climate-resilience funding for infrastructure. He stressed that with limited fiscal space, the government must ensure that “every shilling delivers maximum impact,” adding that PIM-Plus strengthens environmental, social, and climate safeguards to help Uganda tap into larger global financing opportunities.

He urged Permanent Secretaries, Chief Executives, and all responsible agencies to provide strong leadership, enforce PIM rules, prioritize proper project preparation, and embrace a culture of timely reporting and evidence-based decision-making. “Tools alone do not deliver change — leadership does,” he said, calling for a shift toward efficient, transparent, and results-driven public investment.

The PS closed his remarks by emphasizing that PIM-Plus is central to Uganda’s longer-term economic ambitions. “This is the promise of a stronger PIMS. This is the power of PIM-Plus. And this is the pathway to Uganda achieving the ten-fold growth strategy and accelerated socio-economic transformation,” he said.