My former colleague and friend Bill Bell, who has died aged 93, played a key role in putting a huge swath of East Africa on track to economic success. Wise and fair-minded, with excellent social skills and a fine satirical sense of humour when required, he was highly respected within the Colonial Service.
All those facets of his character came into play in 1952 when, as secretariat officer in Entebbe, Uganda, he was given the challenging task of writing a feasibility study for a 208-mile extension of the railway that linked Kampala with Mombasa, Kenya. The plan was that it would reach Kasese near Mt Ruwenzori (now Rwenzori). With the simple title The Way to the West, the scheme, which had defeated previous administrations, crossed sparsely populated swampy country and presented considerable physical challenges. Bill pulled it all together, demonstrating that it could, and should, be done.
It opened up an area that included the Kilembe copper mines in western Uganda sited just a few kilometres from the equator. The railway facilitated export of its ore to a smelter near the Owen Falls hydroelectric dam at Jinja, thus contributing to Uganda's development plan, a dream that had eluded administrators for many years. The project was completed in 1956 – in just four years – at a cost of some £6m, albeit £2m over budget.
The ranks of the district officers who ran Britain's colonial empire had been depleted by the second world war when Bill joined the Colonial Service, having spent seven years serving as a soldier, including the D-day landings and the subsequent allied advance through Europe.
Born in Kingston upon Hull and educated there at Hymers College, he had spent only one prewar term studying classics at Oriel College, Oxford, before joining the army. After retirement in 1997, he returned to the university as an information officer.
Bill spent 17 years in Uganda and left at independence in 1962, when I took over from him as permanent secretary, education. In 1966 he became founding head of the Overseas Development Agency's British development division, based in Barbados, set up to monitor UK aid to the Caribbean. He served there for seven years, making a significant contribution to building schools and infrastructure.
He was appointed MBE in 1946 and CMG in 1970. His wife Margaret died in 2003. He is survived by their two children, Richard and Rosalind.