Jinja-Bugiri road to take 30 months

Jun 26, 2006

THE reconstruction of the Jinja-Bugiri road resumes on July 1, under a new sh110b contract.<br>The Government said the long-awaited and troubled project will be complete in 30 months. Finance minister Ezra Suruma signed the contract with Boaz Ferench of the new contractor, Reynolds Construction Co

By Jude Etyang
THE reconstruction of the Jinja-Bugiri road resumes on July 1, under a new sh110b contract.
The Government said the long-awaited and troubled project will be complete in 30 months. Finance minister Ezra Suruma signed the contract with Boaz Ferench of the new contractor, Reynolds Construction Company (Nigeria) and Sonitra Ltd (Ghana) joint venture.

Works minister John Nasasira and the European Commission (EU) in Uganda head, Sigurd Illing, witnessed the signing ceremony. The project is funded by the EU.
“The people of Uganda have waited for this road for a long time and their patience has justifiably run out. I call upon all of us to walk out of this boardroom with a commitment that the road will be done in a diligent and timely manner,” Suruma said after the signing.

Suruma warned the contractor to complete the project by December 2008, saying the European Development Fund regulations barred him from requesting for further extension of the agreement. “This therefore calls for your expeditious dedication and co-operation,” said Suruma.

Suruma said such big projects were delayed or stalled by slow decision-making by government bodies and appealed to the works ministry to avoid the vice.

The project to cover 72 kilometres of the highway, started in 2004 but stalled after then contractor, Basil Read Bouygues, abandoned work asking for more money.

Nasasira said the former contractor wanted more money for changes in design and extra days for work. “We had an unusual experience with the previous contractor which I have never seen before, for a contractor to abandon work yet they are being paid. He (Basil) was claiming extra money for changes in design and extra days, normally you continue with those claims but do not stop working,” said Nasasira.

Nasasira said that Basil had agreed to refund sh30b advanced to them but the Government had recovered only sh7.5b.

The road is part of the very important northern corridor.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});