Sh5 trillion required for national road projects

Katumba told the Parliament on Wednesday, 01 March 2023 that Cabinet agreed to reprioritise maintenance of the existing paved, unpaved and critical industrial park roads.

He noted that the lengthy rainy seasons continue to accelerate deterioration of the roads which is aggravated by inadequate funds to maintain them.

“Maintenance interventions have been delayed due to budget suppressions in the budget for the previous financial year and the inadequate release of funds in the first quarter of the running national budget,” he added.

The minister said Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is currently carrying out periodic maintenance of two paved national roads covering a total length of 93KM and requiring a funding commitment of sh113b.

He noted ongoing rehabilitation of six paved national roads covering a distance of 531KM with a funding commitment of at least sh682b over a period of three years.

On upgrading road projects, the minister said that the there are 20 ongoing projects across the country covering a total of 1,083KM with an approximate funding requirement of sh1.8 trillion.

 “A total of 1,204KM of paved roads have been technically assessed to be in urgent need of periodic maintenance to deter accelerated deterioration which require five or more times the current cost of maintenance,” Katumba said.

He noted that the total requirement for rehabilitation projects under procurement and Government of Uganda counterpart funding for externally financed road projects stands at sh1.2 trillion.

“This means that we need 20 per cent of the above for advance payments translating to sh240b in the next financial year to enable commencement of civil works on these roads,” he added.

The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, directed the Ministry of Finance to provide a response on the lack of funding for road projects.

 She raised concern with the unequal distribution of the road network and called for equity.

 “To ensure fairness and national character as dictated by the constitution, the expansion and maintenance of the road network must reach all corners of the country,” she added.

Speaker Among also called for capacity building of local contractors so that they can take on the projects.

Yusuf Nsibambi Mawokota County South Member of Parliament (MP) said the Ministry of Finance has been adamant to address the funding constraints affecting the Ministry of Works.

“The budgetary appropriations and releases show that money is not provided to the Ministry of Works on time and its prioritises are not recognised by the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

The Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), Henry Musasizi, said the resolution arrived at to prioritise works on existing roads was because of financial constraints the government is facing.

“The circumstances we are operating in do not allow us the additional money to address the ever-growing priorities of the Government,” he said.