Investigate Northern Bypass project
Apr 26, 2008
JUST what is going on? Four years after the works started, the Kampala Northern Bypass, is yet to be completed! The 21-km route was supposed to have been constructed in two years, from 2004 to 2006. Two years later, the inauguration date is still unknown.
JUST what is going on? Four years after the works started, the Kampala Northern Bypass, is yet to be completed! The 21-km route was supposed to have been constructed in two years, from 2004 to 2006. Two years later, the inauguration date is still unknown.
The bypass was meant to reduce congestion in Kampala by diverting traffic from Kenya destined for other parts of Uganda and neighbouring countries. This would undoubtedly have helped lessen the irritating traffic jams in the city. But things seem to have gone terribly wrong. Not only was there poor planning right from the onset, there was also weak supervision by the Road Agency Formation Unit (RAFU).
The contractor, Salini, kept claiming additional costs and used all kinds of excuses – including the weather – to justify the repeated delays. RAFU has been conspicuously soft on Salini. It even defended their claims and accepted their excuses. This smacks of collusion.
The Government and the European Union, the main funders of the project, should demand an investigation into Salini’s performance and RAFU’s role in this. They should demand that Salini pays a penalty for every day of delay, as stipulated in the contract. And they should blacklist companies that do not fulfil their contractual obligations.
Read investigative article under SPECIAL REPORT
The bypass was meant to reduce congestion in Kampala by diverting traffic from Kenya destined for other parts of Uganda and neighbouring countries. This would undoubtedly have helped lessen the irritating traffic jams in the city. But things seem to have gone terribly wrong. Not only was there poor planning right from the onset, there was also weak supervision by the Road Agency Formation Unit (RAFU).
The contractor, Salini, kept claiming additional costs and used all kinds of excuses – including the weather – to justify the repeated delays. RAFU has been conspicuously soft on Salini. It even defended their claims and accepted their excuses. This smacks of collusion.
The Government and the European Union, the main funders of the project, should demand an investigation into Salini’s performance and RAFU’s role in this. They should demand that Salini pays a penalty for every day of delay, as stipulated in the contract. And they should blacklist companies that do not fulfil their contractual obligations.
Read investigative article under SPECIAL REPORT