Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has renewed a call to the works minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala to fast-track the commencement of works on the 77km Kampala-Jinja expressway.

“The loan was approved, and since 2020 nothing has taken place. We were told that the issue is with project-affected persons,” she said while chairing plenary on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

Wamala responded that works on the expressway have stalled due to the lengthy process of acquiring land and compensation of the project-affected persons.

“We are now at the stage of contracting. There are a number of steps which we have to undertake. This is not a simple project, it is a Public Private Partnership and there are so many stages that we have to qualify before it comes to maturity,” the minister said, adding “We have to pay more than 90 per cent of the project-affected persons, we have to resettle people who even by law are not allowed to be resettled. The elderly who are not allowed to take the money we have to prepare for them to have a better life. That takes time”.

Partial risk agreement acquired

Wamala said that Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has acquired the partial risk agreement, which is the last stage of procuring a contractor.

“That means that now we can put out the project for contracting because most of the hurdles have been overcome. We are now in the process of advertising; we could not advertise without clearing the hurdles. You must advertise when you have enough land to give to the contractor,” he added.

The minister also informed the lawmakers that the Government has secured all the equipment required for maintenance of roads across the country.

The minister, however, said the supplier is still waiting for the balance of shillings six billion required for full procurement of the equipment.

“Ninety per cent of equipment is in the country. The supplier cannot release equipment before all the money is paid,” he said.

This was after Dan Atwijukire (NRM, Kazo County MP) raised concern over failure by the Government to fulfil commitments of providing districts with road maintenance equipment.

"The last commitment was that shillings six billion was released for contractors to buy road maintenance equipment but no money. If the ministry has failed to get money, let them go on local radios and explain to Ugandans otherwise if we continue to appropriate and no releases are made, we are injecting air to the economy,” Atwijukire said.

Among gave the minister two weeks to present a comprehensive statement on the status on road works across the country.