The Uganda National Roads Authority needs more than one trillion shillings allocated to it this financial year to upgrade and build roads countrywide.
UNRA is now in charge of 20,000 kilometers of national roads of which only 3500 kilometers have tarmac.
Dan Alinange, the UNRA spokesperson says they have been given new projects to work upon including Mukono-Katosi, Gulu- Sudan, and the first tarmac road to Karamoja. UNRA also has to upgrade Hoima-Kaisotonya road connecting to the oil wells and Kampala-Entebbe road which must all be started in this financial year.
On average a kilometer of a tarmac road costs about 2 billion shillings to be constructed.
Currently, UNRA is still constructing 1000 kilometers including the Fort Portal- Bundibugyo, Kampala-Masaka road, Kabale-Kisoro, Kampala-Mityana and Kampala-Gayaza roads, which is expected to be completed in August this year.
Alinange adds that roads such as the Kampala-Entebbe will require a lot of money to compensate house owners along the roads. He notes that even though they have enough money for the start, there is need for supplementary funds.
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UNRA has contracted over 100 local companies whose contracts have been cleared by the solicitor general to improve roads to a national standard.
However, Alinange, who declined to name any of the contractors, cites two main challenges which include lack of proper construction equipment by the authority and the lack of proper management skills by local contractors.
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Roads in Kampala will have to wait for another one or two years to be upgraded. Alinange says UNRA and Kampala Capital City Authority are working together with the World Bank to set up a Rapid Bus Transport system with dedicated lanes for buses. The implementation will kick start with 20 kilometers of road, which will also involve breaking down a number of structures and removing street parking to widen the city roads.
According to Alinange, at the end of this financial year, UNRA is going to release a list of the best and worst contractors.
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