EU to stop road projects support

Mar 14, 2007

THE European Union (EU) is to stop funding specific road construction projects such as the Northern Bypass and the Jinja-Bugiri road.

By Geresom Musamali

THE European Union (EU) is to stop funding specific road construction projects such as the Northern Bypass and the Jinja-Bugiri road.

The money will be diverted to the national budget support for the entire road network.

The EU oversees the procurement process and progress of its projects. But over the next seven years, the EU’s direct involvement in the administration of procurement processes for the road sector will be phased out. This would enable Ugandans take greater responsibility for the sector.

While opening a workshop on the road sector at Speke Resort, Munyonyo, EU ambassador Vincent De Visscher said the union spends about $60m per year on Uganda’s road projects.

“The workshop is to provide a clear understanding of a sectoral approach in line with the EU’s strategy of moving from project to sector or budget support.

Funding the roads sector through sector budget support would entail a change in the way the Government of Uganda and the EU work with each other, more especially with regard to using Uganda Government’s systems and procedures. It will entail monitoring results against which fund disbursements are made, and increasing EU’s role in sectoral dialogue,” he added.

The EU expects Uganda to revive the national roads authority and prioritise road construction and maintenance on professional grounds and avoid political interference.

“We expect them to lay out a programme for road construction and maintenance. We do not expect a politician to come up and say that a particular road is in a bad situation and should be worked on first,” Visscher said.

The chairman of the parliamentary committee on infrastructure, Nathan Byanyima, said the new procedure would save MPs the problem of answering for the poor roads in their constituencies. “Politicians usually do not have answers when asked about the poor state of the roads in their areas.”

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