Road construction: Contractors’ debt rises to over Shs 580bln

KAMPALA-Road works across the country are being constrained by a Shs 585 billion debt to contractors, according to the Minister of Works and Transport, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala.

Gen. Katumba was responding to the communication from the Speaker, Anita Among, who raised concern over the recurrent flooding of the Karuma-Pakwach Bridge during plenary sitting on November 17, 2022.

“The problem is not that we do not want to repair the roads, but we do not have the money as yet. If we get the release, we shall fix the roads,” said Katumba Wamala.

Following the Speaker’s guidance, Katumba Wamala reported to the House that his counterpart in the tourism ministry had waived access fees through the Murchison Falls National Park to enable movement of travellers, goods and services as government finds a permanent solution to fix the bridge.

The Speaker asked the minister to present a report on actions that have been taken on all the roads in the country.

Kinkizi County West MP, James Niringiyimana however, proposed that government should consider acquiring concessional loans to enable road works to continue.

“I remember the declaration by the President in 2017 when he wrote letters telling the Ministry of Works, UNRA [Uganda National Roads Authority] and Ministry of Finance to work on roads which are critical to government. What happened to these letters?” he asked.

Zombo District Woman MP, Esther Afoyochan, called for special consideration for roads in West Nile, saying that the major roads in region are impassable.

Bukonjo West MP Atkins Katusabe urged government to urgently intervene and fix the Karuma-Pakwach Bridge.

Meanwhile, MPs approved a US$140 million [523bln] loan to finance the Uganda Digital Acceleration Project [UDAP], and ring-fenced it to the implementing agency, National Information Technology Authority-Uganda.

The project is intended to ensure that high bandwidth data connectivity is available in all major towns of Uganda at a reasonable rate, boost electronic government infrastructure aimed at reducing the cost of doing business in government, improving communications between government agencies and reducing the need for officials to commute for meetings and thereby increasing efficiency.

https://thecooperator.news/miirya-sub-county-grappling-with-poor-roads/

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