SHAKTI PUMPS SHODDY WORKS EXPOSED! Indian Firm’s Shs130Bn Uganda Water Deal in 23 Districts Hit by Bursting Pipes, Leaks, Failed Valves
KAMPALA — Indian water engineering firm Shakti Pumps is facing growing scrutiny over the quality of its work on a string of multi-billion-shilling water projects across Uganda, with government officials now refusing to hand over one of its latest schemes after finding a catalogue of technical defects.
The latest embarrassment has emerged in Agago District, where a Shs6 billion solar-powered water project constructed by Shakti Pumps has been stopped from undergoing technical handover until the contractor fixes outstanding faults.
But the Agago problems are raising a much bigger question: is the project an isolated case of poor workmanship, or a glimpse into wider problems with Shakti Pumps’ execution of government water projects across the country?
The company was brought into Uganda in 2021 after securing financing to a tune of $35.30 million (equivalent to roughly Shs130 billion) from India’s Exim Bank and has since secured several major contracts under the Ministry of Water and Environment to extend solar-powered water systems to underserved communities.
The overall programme is intended to provide safe and sustainable water to about 500,000 Ugandans across 23 rural districts.
The value involved is enormous.
Shakti Pumps was awarded a contract worth US$35.30 million, equivalent to roughly Shs130 billion, excluding VAT, to supply and install solar-powered water pumping systems in Uganda.
Yet despite the huge public investment, complaints about workmanship and system performance are beginning to cast a shadow over the company’s projects.
The Agago project provides the clearest warning yet.
The Shs6 billion scheme in Omiya Pacwa Sub-county was designed to serve about 6,000 people in 41 villages, through a 94-kilometre pipe network, 270 household connections and about 19 public standpoints.
On paper, Shakti Pumps says it has delivered.
It says all the major infrastructure—including pumping stations, storage tanks, transmission and distribution pipelines—has been installed.
But when district officials inspected the project, they found a system that was not yet fit to be handed over.
In Lomoi, pipes have reportedly been repeatedly bursting and leaking, particularly when the system is operated at full pressure.
The failures affect both transmission and distribution lines, while officials are still trying to establish whether the underlying problem lies in the pipe joints, the pipes themselves or another technical fault.
That is hardly the picture of a properly completed water system.
The problems do not end with the pipes.
Some public water points have faulty control valves and taps, while other facilities have reportedly experienced massive flooding.
Officials say the contractor promised to replace the defective components, but the problems remained unresolved up-to-date.
In Lamingonen, the assessment was even more damning.
The consequence is that the government cannot simply celebrate the completion of the project and walk away.
The contractor must first return to rectify the defects, after which the system will undergo a one-to-two-month test-running period before the operator can take over.
But Agago should not be viewed in isolation.
Shakti Pumps has worked on water projects in Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Buliisa, Lwengo, Kisoro, Rubanda, Lyantonde and other districts. There are now calls for the company’s workmanship to face a broader government audit rather than scrutiny only when a project visibly fails.
The growing concern is whether all these projects are performing to the standards expected from investments running into tens of billions of shillings.
Communities in some of the districts where Shakti Pumps has completed or handed over projects have also raised complaints over alleged poor workmanship and system performance.
These complaints, coupled with the defects now documented in Agago, have prompted calls from affected communities and officials for the Ministry of Water and Environment to conduct a serious assessment of Shakti Pumps’ projects across the country.
Eng. David Bateganya, the Project Manager, Principal Engineer and Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Water and Environment, is responsible for the technical oversight of the rural water supply and sanitation programme.
An official from Kakumiro, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the real test of Shakti Pumps’ work should be whether the systems continue to function reliably after the contractor leaves.
“The central issue is not whether Shakti Pumps has installed pumps, buried pipes or erected tanks. It is whether the infrastructure works reliably after the contractors leave the site,” the official said.
He added that a project should not be declared successful simply because the infrastructure has been installed if the system develops leaks, bursts or fails at public water points under normal operating conditions.
Another official in Agago said the government now needs to look beyond the immediate repairs and establish whether the problems emerging in the district are isolated failures or part of a wider pattern.
“An investigation should be put in place. It needs to establish whether the defects in Agago are isolated construction failures or part of a broader pattern across the company’s Uganda portfolio,” he said.
The official also questioned how some of the projects were inspected, certified and cleared for handover if fundamental defects are emerging during or shortly before technical handover.
For Shakti Pumps, the growing concerns present a serious test of its credibility as a contractor entrusted with a programme worth about Shs130 billion.
The company now faces questions over the quality, durability and supervision of its work across Uganda—not merely whether it has fulfilled the physical installation requirements of its contracts.
The big question is: How many more Shakti Pumps projects need to develop leaks, bursts, faulty valves and other defects before government orders a comprehensive technical audit of the company’s work across the country?
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