Published on 31/07/2025
At least 27 major road and bridge projects across Uganda have been suspended or drastically slowed down due to a crippling government funding shortfall, Minister of Works and Transport, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, has told Parliament.
The Minister, who presented to Parliament a statement on the state of roads in the country, on Wednesday, 30 July 2025, attributed this to delayed payments and land acquisition issues, affecting projects like the Masindi-Biiso and Kabale-Kiziranfumbi oil roads, Kampala-Mpigi Expressway and Kampala-Jinja Highway.
“As of July 2025, 27 projects have been affected by either full suspension or significant reduction in progress. These include 18 fully funded by the Government of Uganda, where contractors have suspended or slowed down works due to delayed payments, and nine externally financed projects, where delays are primarily attributed to the Government’s inability to provide timely counterpart funding,” he said.
The funding shortfall is attributed to a massive gap of Shs2.472 trillion in the financial year 2025/2026 where only Shs682 billion of the required Shs3.153 trillion was provided. The government is also carrying over Shs1.071 trillion in arrears from previous years, accumulating commercial interest and monthly cost claims from contractors.
The situation is further complicated by land acquisition issues, with Shs443 billion needed for compensation and enabling access to sites, which has grounded externally funded projects.
“The cumulative effect of these suspensions and delays has led to slow absorption of project resources, exposure to financial claims, risk of asset deterioration, and reputational concerns,” he stated.
The minister said that Uganda’s road infrastructure is deteriorating rapidly, with 1,993 kilometers requiring urgent periodic maintenance and 260 kilometers needing rehabilitation.
“If not implemented, these roads degrade and instead require rehabilitation which costs about Shs2.59 billion per kilometer three times the periodic maintenance cost,” he warned adding that “This could result in a preventable fiscal loss of up to Shs180 billion.”
Gen. Katumba warned that if not urgently addressed, these disruptions will compromise Uganda’s ability to deliver critical national infrastructure and maintain the existing network.
The minister called for urgent financial intervention, emphasizing the importance of the road network to economic growth, regional integration, and service delivery.
Despite the urgency of the situation, Parliament was unable to hold a substantive debate on the matter after it emerged that none of the ministers from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development were present to respond to the funding concerns raised in the report.
Government Chief Whip, Hon. Hamson Obua informed the House that the responsible ministers were all away on official engagements.
Speaker Anita Among insisted that the Chief Whip must take responsibility.
“That is your role as Government Chief Whip; you are the one supposed to ensure members are in the House. This is not for debate. Whip, we shall hold you accountable,” she said.
The Speaker deferred the debate on the statement to Tuesday, 05 August 2025.
