Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (Front C) was inspecting the construction work of the country's largest hydropower plant, the Karuma Power Plant in the midwestern district of Kiryandongo on Aug. 23, 2018. Uganda contributed 15 percent of funding while the China Export and Import Bank provided up to 85 percent of financing for the project. The total cost is 1.4 billion dollars for the plant. (Xinhua)

China tops the list of major foreign investors in Uganda, according to the East African nation's investment authority. It says that China's planned investment totaled 607 million U.S. dollars in the 2018/2019 financial year, comprising 45.1 percent of the total investment.

KAMPALA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has topped the list of major sources of planned Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Uganda in the financial year 2018/2019, a new report issued here late on Monday has said.

Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), a state agency charged with investment promotion, in its latest report showed that China's planned investment totaled 607 million U.S. dollars, comprising 45.1 percent of the total investment.

"Things have changed, you see that China which used not to be mentioned among the top investors in Uganda ten years ago is now number one foreign investor," said Lawrence Byensi, acting executive director of UIA.

Byensi said the Chinese are mostly in roads projects and manufacturing.

The Chinese-built Isimba hydropower project on the Victoria Nile in Kayunga, Uganda, was inaugurated on March 21, 2019. The 183 MW power plant cost an estimated 568 million U.S. dollars and China provided the majority financing support. The power plant is intended to address a power shortage facing the country. The project had hired more than 3,000 workers, of whom 85 percent were Ugandans. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping)

The report showed Lebanon as the second source of FDI in Uganda during the period under review.

Lebanon's planned investment was 70 million dollars followed by India at 58 million dollars and United Arab Emirates at 55 million dollars.

The report also showed that domestic planned investment is on the increase contributing to 24.4 percent of the total investment. Total planned investment was 1.3 billion dollars.

The sectors that attracted the highest investment in the planned licensed projects during the period under review were manufacturing with 148 projects, agriculture with 51 projects, and transport, storage, communications, construction had 17 licensed project, among others.■