Farmers in Pakwach District will wait a little longer after the commissioning of the Wadelai Irrigation Scheme was again extended by one month due to defects and unfinished work.
On October 30, State Minister for Water, Aisha Sekindi, issued a one-month ultimatum to Ambitious Construction Company Limited to finish the works on the Shs 61 billion scheme, which was scheduled to be completed by 2019.
However, records from the Office of the Prime Minister indicate that at least Shs64 billion has been injected into the project as of January, 2026.
Construction of the Wadelai Irrigation Scheme, located in Wadelai and Ragem sub-counties, started in 2017 but stalled due to land acquisition issues, compensation disputes and construction challenges.
The initial work was undertaken by Coil Limited, working jointly with Nasr General Contracting Company that withdrew their services in 2023 after failing to stick to the contractual timeframe.
Acting on President Yoweri Museveni’s guidance, the government subsequently engaged Ambitious Construction Company Limited to undertake the remaining works and rehabilitate sections of the infrastructure that had been poorly constructed.
The new contractor resumed work in November 2025, with the revised scope covering the headworks, critical sections of the spillway, main canal and completion of primary, secondary, tertiary and quadrant canals.
On Friday, Ms Sekindi, who visited the scheme to assess progress and establish whether the outstanding works had been completed to the required standards, said she was encouraged by improvements made since the government engaged a new contractor but insisted that the remaining concerns must be addressed before the facility is officially commissioned.
However, she directed the contractor to rectify the identified shortcomings within one month, after which she will return for another assessment.
“Those remaining issues have been given only one month to be corrected. I will come back and conduct a second assessment, and when I am convinced that everything is in order, I will commission the project,” Ms Sekindi said.
The scheme was designed to support year-round agricultural production, improve household incomes and strengthen food security among more than 3,000 farmers in the area.
Government records put the scheme’s original contract sum at approximately Shs54.8 billion, which was later revised to about Shs61 billion following changes in the project design.
The incomplete infrastructure also created problems for neighbouring communities, with water from the canals flooding homes and gardens.
The Wadelai Irrigation Scheme draws water from River Ora and is funded by the Government of Uganda and the African Development and Nordic Development Fund under the Farm Income Enhancement and Forest Conservation Programme phase II (FIEFOC-2).
Engineer Dinesh Kara, the project manager at Ambitious Construction Company Limited, who was present during the minister’s inspection, said some of the works had not yet been completed because of procurement challenges, as most of the materials are imported.
Although the scheme is yet to be officially commissioned, it is already supporting approximately 2,500 farmers, who say access to irrigation water has transformed their agricultural activities.
For Mr Lawrence Kertho, a farmer and landowner at the scheme site, irrigation has provided an opportunity to earn considerably more from farming than from leasing out his land.
“Before joining the scheme, we were getting very little because outside the scheme we sometimes planted only once a year. Here, after harvesting, you immediately begin cultivating again, and that has improved our incomes,” Kertho said.
However, he identified poor drainage and unclear land boundaries as some of the challenges affecting farmers.
He said waterlogging has affected some plots, while the removal of trees previously used to mark boundaries has contributed to disagreements among farmers.
Mr Kertho also raised concerns over the continued use of recycled seeds, saying repeated planting of the same varieties has affected yields.
Another beneficiary, Comfort Masendi, said the scheme had enabled her to increase production by allowing her to cultivate rice and vegetables throughout the year.
Ms Masendi also cited limited access to reliable markets, saying farmers sometimes sell their produce cheaply to local buyers, appealing to the government to support farmers with improved seed varieties to increase production and improve the quality of their harvests.
Pakwach District LC5 Chairperson Shaban Ofoi welcomed the minister’s decision to withhold commissioning until the outstanding works are completed, saying residents have waited long enough for the project to function as intended.
Mr Ofoi urged the technical team supervising the works to ensure that all the concerns identified during the inspection are addressed within the one-month deadline.
He also called for additional agricultural machinery, saying the single tractor currently available is inadequate to serve farmers across the scheme.
The district chairperson further called for the completion of the proposed weather station, saying reliable weather information would help farmers and scheme managers plan irrigation activities and regulate the amount of water released into their fields.
Jonam County MP Marshall Alenyo called on the government to extend electricity to the area, saying the absence of power continues to affect residents despite the presence of a major agricultural investment.
He also urged improvements to the access road connecting Pakwach to the scheme and better access to other essential services, including police services.