Govt keen on road network expansion

58 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE|ROADS

Uganda's road network has considerably expanded over the last six years, connecting almost 80% of the country to its border posts, while facilitating trade with her regional neighbours.



The condition of the roads, especially those under local governments, has improved greatly during the same time, due to consistent monitoring, maintenance and auditing of road works. Although several sectors of the economy have been critically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, works in the roads sector have not been disrupted so as to keep a proper and functioning road infrastructure.

"Our work has to continue regardless of any disruptions being experienced in the economy currently. By and large, we have done a good job, considering the resource envelop. Over the years, we have managed to maintain roads in good condition, from border to border, even in times such as these, when we are hit by the pandemic," Ronald Namugera, the Uganda Road Fund manager for policy and strategy, said.

STATISTICS

According to statistics from Uganda Road Fund (URF), Uganda boasts of approximately 140,000km of roads, linking it from border to border with her regional neighbours, while at the same time allowing intra- connectivity to regions, towns and villages.

Of these, more than 78,000kms are tarmac roads, managed by 135 designated agencies including the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and 111 districts.

Experts have previously argued that a small road network is perhaps one of the major bottlenecks to unlocking the country's economic potential. However, works minister Katumba Wamala says this is good enough to facilitate economic development, by boosting both domestic and intra-regional trade.

"Owing to our geographical position both in the region and on the continent, the Government is convinced that proper infrastructure development can propel our economy into a middle income state in just a few years," he said.

Shakila Rahim, the URF head of corporate communication, says roads are among the most important public assets which must be either improved or maintained on a well-drafted programme.  

She said without regular maintenance, roads can rapidly fall into disrepair, deterring realisation of their longer term impact on development, such as increased agricultural production and reduced journey times across the country. It should be noted that according to URA, the number of cars entering the country is expected to grow at approximately 5% per year due to a growing middle income.

Economic observers believe that Uganda has overcome past trials and tribulations to become a stable nation with a growingeconomy that is capitalising on the country's natural advantages and ambitious workforce. 



PASSENGER MOVEMENT

Katumba said the Government is also striving to improve the flow of traffic and the speed of passenger movement in Kampala and the inner urban areas and to substantially Increase road maintenance funding in the medium-term.

According to the World Bank, the country loses about $800m (sh2.952trillion) per annum in gross domestic productivity (GDP) due to traffic congestion. The traffic congestion in and outside Kampala undermines sustainable urban development and so needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

In an earlier interview, Eng. Isaac Wani, the director for network planning and engineering at UNRA, said Kampala and Mukono are set to be integrated with the Greater Kampala Transport Master Plan to reduce traffic jam in the city.

The comprehensive programme aims at reorganising the city's roads and improving transport around settlements in and around Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts over the next 10 years.  

The project includes the Kampala Bus Rapid Transit that will see buses move along dedicated lanes within the metropolitan area.  Integration of these lanes to the existing road will stretch to Mukono, after which the normal carriageway will continue to Jinja and terminate at the new Nile Bridge.

The road will also include non-motorised infrastructure such as walkways, taxi fleet renewal, control centre, traffic management and other infrastructure.

OIL ROADS

The finance minister, Matia Kasaija, said China's institutional lender, the Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to lend Uganda approximately $456.37m, meant for financing the upgrade and construction of the national oil roads.

The money, Kasaija said, will be used to partly finance three lots which make part of the oil roads meant to facilitate the efficient development and production of the national oil resources.

The selected critical roads, traversing Hoima, Masindi, Pakwach, Buliisa and Kakumiro districts , will according to the Government, comprise a 50-meter right of way and 70-meter carriage way, upgraded to class two bitumen.

In the meantime, Katumba said 50 new bridges will also be added to the road infrastructure network, while 80% of the national road network will be maintained in fair to good condition all year round. "We want to operate an efficient national road network that supports the economic development of the country," he said.

REHABILITATION WORKS

He said, the Government will also embark on the completion of phase two rehabilitation works on the 29km Sironko-Muyembe road, and the upgrade to bituminous standard of the 20km Mpigi town roads.

Upgrade of the Kaya-Yei road to class A murram will also commence along with the 44.5km Bumbobi -Lwakhakha road, whose completion is expected in 2021. According to UNRA, the 44km Pallisa-Kamonkoli road, 67km Tirinyi-Pallisa-Kumi road, 10km Kitala-Gerenge road and the 69km Kigumba-Bulima road will have activity throughout the year, and be completed in 2021.

"Rehabilitation of the 102km Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale road is also expected to continue, and come to conclusion in the 2020/21 financial year," UNRA publicist, Allan Ssempebwa, said.

Ssempebwa said about 400km of roads are expected to be constructed, while 200km will undergo rehabilitation by close of 2020. "The roads would have been completed by mid-2020, but we experienced a slight set back due to COVID-19, but we have since set ourselves to recover the lost time," he said.

Ssempebwa said 51 bridges will also undergo construction of which six will be substantially completed, while the others will go beyond 2021.



KAMPALA PROJECTS

In Kampala city, works are ongoing to upgrade of 20 roads, measuring 46.7km. The project is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) at a cost of $240m to cover civil works improvement, construction, upgrading, paving and dualling of selected roads to four lanes as well as signalising and installation of street lights in selected junctions.

In June 2018, President Yoweri Museveni launched the $476m (1.7trillion) Kampala-Entebbe expressway. The 51km toll road links Kampala to Entebbe Airport. The road comprises a 37.23km four lane dual carriageway, connecting the Northern-Bypass at Busega, to the existing road at Abayita Ababiri, and a 14.13km spur to Munyonyo through  Lweza.

In 2018, the AfDB also approved a sovereign loan of $229.5m (sh849b) to finance phase one of the KampalaJinja Expressway project. Its total project cost is estimated at $1.55b (sh5.735trillion). The Kampala-Jinja Express way is unprecedented in that the Government is undertaking it jointly with the private sector.

The project will be carried out in two phases with the first one being 33km of the KampalaJinja Mainline from Kampala to Namagunga and the Kampala Southern Bypass. The second phase will be 43.7km of the Kampala Jinja Mainline from Namagunga to Jinja.

 TRADE AND INVESTMENT 

Trade and investment has since skyrocketed, fl ying on the wings of a soothing road network connecting the country to its different regions and neighbours.

Katumba said the Government is heavily investing in works and transport because it is one of the sectors that drum up growth and development in the global economy and is extremely crucial for landlocked economies such as Ugandas'.

He said infrastructure in such an economy serves as a conveyor belt, opening up production zones to markets, while availing the needed thrust for post-production processes, thus reducing costs for producers and manufacturers in the long term.      

Katumba said roads are among the most important public assets in Uganda and their improvement brings immediate and sometimes long term benefi ts to road users. The minister said the roads sector has a vital and supportive role to play in the development of a dynamic and robust private sector and in the efficient delivery of social services.

He said the Government has thus improved accessibility to all rural and urban areas of the country on a sustainable basis by having at least 80% of the national and the district road networks in a fair to good condition

 NATIONAL ROAD STOCK 

More than 814.1km of paved roads were added to the national stock for the period 2016-2019. In the fi rst quarter of the last fi nancial year, UNRA delivered 204km to the road stock, which is a 50% achievement against our annual physical performance target of 400km," he said.

During the 2016/17 fi nancial year, about 100km were added to the national paved roads network, while another 432km were added in the 2017/18 fi nancial year. According to the works ministry, construction of seven oil roads totalling 550km kicked off in the oil-rich Albertine region in western Uganda in 2018/19, to facilitate oil production.

Uganda has a target of completing a large section of its oil roads ahead of fi rst oil, which is expected to fl ow in 2023. The 12 critical oil roads, measuring 700km were initially meant to be completed by the end of 2020, but due to budgetary constraints, the end date was pushed ahead.

During the period 2016-June 2019, the roads regulator upgraded 26 roads measuring 1,131km including the 5km Nyakabande-Mutolore road, 7km Nyakabande-Muganzi road, 75km Kazo-Ibanda-Kamwenge road, the 114km Moroto-Nakapiririt road and the 110km Kanoni-Sembabule-Villa Maria road.