Published on 17/04/2025
Minister of State for Works, Hon. Musa Ecweru has revealed that the bad state of some roads is attributed to a Shs1.3 trillion debt that the now rationalised Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) owed to contractors.
Ecweru’s assertion followed an outcry by a cross section of Members of Parliament over the bad state of roads and bridges around the country.
The concerns were raised as the House chaired By Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, debated a report from the Committee on Physical Infrastructure on the sector’s budget priorities for financial year 2025/2026.
The minister said that they had inherited the loan burden accrued by UNRA for several incomplete works.
He added that UNRA’s role was simply procurement of contractors and not the actual construction and repair works of the infrastructure.
Ecweru said that the delayed payment of contractors has seen them go to court for redress with some equipment also confiscated.
“An example is the Mityana-Mubende road which is funded by government. The contractor is Energo which has not been paid about Shs60 billion. Energo was taken to court by the suppliers of fuel and the bank is demanding,” Ecweru said.
Deputy Speaker Tayebwa however, took exception with the minister’s statement saying that he was undermining the role UNRA carried out over the years.
“The statement you have made about UNRA is very unfortunate. It would go on record that we were appropriating money for nothing, yet UNRA did some work including procurement and management. That is why you see when UNRA was working, the contractors took over the roads. When you took over UNRA, the contractors ran away,” Tayebwa said.
Tayebwa added that is wrong to belittle the efforts put in by the UNRA management and staff. “Those UNRA engineers were suffering with you and you were praising them. Now you are saying they were only doing procurement. They did a great job and you should put in on the record,” said Tayebwa said on Wednesday, 16 April 2025.
The Chairperson of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure, Hon. Tonny Awany said several road projects have seen works delayed due to changes in designs which has also seen increases in costs.
“The Busega-Mpigi Expressway project was Initially contracted at Shs547 billion but due to inadequate designs, subsequent revisions escalated the project cost to Shs1.3 trillion. The original contract funds for civil works were depleted by 2024 with physical progress at 40 per cent posing risks of delayed payment and legal claims,” Awany said.
Awany said government is losing money in such delays citing the Kampala-Jinja Expressway where Shs6 billion has been spent in commitment fees.
Otuke County MP, Hon. Paul Omara wondered why government abandoned the 179KM Lira-Aloi-Kotido-Abim road covering six districts when all requirements for its construction seemed to be in place.
“How come after you had completed variation and people were compensated, the road is not in the National Development Plan? How do we defend the plans of government?” asked Omara.
Buhweju County MP, Hon Francis Mwijukye revealed that the road connecting Buhweju to Bushenyi District is not considered in the next budget yet government had secured a contractor and signed an agreement.
Bukimbiri County MP, Hon. Eddie Kwizera advised the ministry to focus on a few roads according to the provided budget.
“We have 65 roads in the report; that is the same number we had last year. Why can’t we look at the resources available and stop exciting Ugandans?” he said adding that, ‘do we use the economic rate of return and international standards to select the roads for construction or we use political standards such as where the minister is married?” Kwizera asked.
