Kampala — The Private sector has challenged government to walk the talk and implement recommendations that will reduce on the high cost of doing business which is threatening investors to relocate to other countries.

In Uganda, the process of starting a business takes about a year, that is, from the time the process of registration, until the property valuation is completed. This has prohibited many would be potential investment opportunities from taking off thus affecting the country's competitiveness globally.

This, according to results from a recently concluded sub-national survey, conducted by the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) which ascertained the cost of starting a business across in the country.

Mr Gideon Badagawa, the Director Policy Advocacy at PSFU said: "It was revealed that the centralisation of key functions in the capital city particularly, registering a business, land titling and, issuance of Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) can have a significant impact on the time taken to set up a business up-country."

He added: "This creates non-statutory costs for the local investors implying that the real time and cost (direct and indirect) of opening a business in Uganda varies from region to region something which needs to be changed."

At a pre-budget meeting held over the weekend at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, the Private Sector recommended a number of priority areas that acted as barriers preventing the creation of an enabling environment in the country.

Once again this year, transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure Barriers, limitations of access to affordable business finance, and absence of a competitive investment incentive package among others have cropped up.

MrBadagawa said: "The need for sound physical infrastructure to facilitate growth of investments cannot be emphasised more. The government has made progress in improving service delivery in the electricity and telecommunications sub-sectors but much of Uganda's transport infrastructure is dilapidated,".

He added that infrastructural development is key in increasing a country's productivity levels thus the government must prioritise its limited resources towards developing physical infrastructure.