Uganda gets sh58b for roads
Oct 26, 2010
THE European Commission and the British Department for International Development (DFID) have injected £17.75m (about sh58b) to reduce the cost of building and maintaining roads in Uganda.
By Josephine Maseruka
THE European Commission and the British Department for International Development (DFID) have injected £17.75m (about sh58b) to reduce the cost of building and maintaining roads in Uganda.
Robert Rudy, the DFID investment advisor, said the five-year project will reduce by 10% the cost of road construction. The cost, which currently stands at $300,000 per kilometre of tamarcked road, is the highest in the region.
“Over 10,000 people will be trained in construction methods. The project will also increase the proportion of the national road network in good or very good condition from 25% to 50%,†Rudy said.
Eng. Peter Ssebanakitta, the executive director of the Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA), said out of the 20,000km of national roads, only 3,000km are paved, 7,800km are unpaved gravel and 10,000km are unpaved earth.
The revelation was made on Monday at the sixth Joint Transport Sector Review workshop at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Over 250 experts in the road sector are attending the three-day annual conference.
“Poor people’s economic opportunities and access to markets, and service delivery agencies are substantially hindered by the state of the road network,†Rudy lamented.
DFID also prepared a project called Creating Opportunities for Sustainable Spending in Roads (CrossRoads).
It comprises a 3 million euro grant (about sh7.5b) from the European Commission and £15m grant (about sh51b) from DFID.
The project will be implemented in four phases, which include £4.8m budgeted for the works ministry and UNRA to complete their reform process.
The secretariat will be set up next month and will take six months to be fully operational.
THE European Commission and the British Department for International Development (DFID) have injected £17.75m (about sh58b) to reduce the cost of building and maintaining roads in Uganda.
Robert Rudy, the DFID investment advisor, said the five-year project will reduce by 10% the cost of road construction. The cost, which currently stands at $300,000 per kilometre of tamarcked road, is the highest in the region.
“Over 10,000 people will be trained in construction methods. The project will also increase the proportion of the national road network in good or very good condition from 25% to 50%,†Rudy said.
Eng. Peter Ssebanakitta, the executive director of the Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA), said out of the 20,000km of national roads, only 3,000km are paved, 7,800km are unpaved gravel and 10,000km are unpaved earth.
The revelation was made on Monday at the sixth Joint Transport Sector Review workshop at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Over 250 experts in the road sector are attending the three-day annual conference.
“Poor people’s economic opportunities and access to markets, and service delivery agencies are substantially hindered by the state of the road network,†Rudy lamented.
DFID also prepared a project called Creating Opportunities for Sustainable Spending in Roads (CrossRoads).
It comprises a 3 million euro grant (about sh7.5b) from the European Commission and £15m grant (about sh51b) from DFID.
The project will be implemented in four phases, which include £4.8m budgeted for the works ministry and UNRA to complete their reform process.
The secretariat will be set up next month and will take six months to be fully operational.