Kampala, Uganda – Members of Parliament have been urged by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to expedite approval of a new loan to complete the Hohwa-Nyairongo-Kyarushesha road and its other sections which total 93 km in the oil region.
UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina urged MPs from the Parliamentary Infrastructure Committee who, along with UNRA officials, inspected a number of oil roads from September 15-17.
“The loan had been authorized but the first financier withdrew,” Kagina told MPs and reporters.
Kagina said the loan approval process had to get back to the drawing board after the first financier, the Construction and Industrial Bank of China, withdrew. The MPs led by Kigorobya County MP David Karubanga, the committee chair, have pledged to deal with the issue when they return to the House.
The project was handed over to the China Railway Seventh Group in March 2019, but the problem of external funding means that the completion of the route could be delayed beyond the planned completion date of August 2022.
The other components of the works are the Kabale-Kiziramfumbi road which connects the Kabaale international airport under construction, and Masindi-Biiso, which completes the lot.
The puzzle of land acquisition
MPs were also briefed on other challenges hampering the construction of critical oil roads – land acquisition and compensation battles with residents. A section of the road where UNRA plans to carry out expansion works has given rise to a legal battle.
William Ndahura, a businessman who claims to have planted 2,000 mango trees, has taken legal action for redress. Juiette Oyella, UNRA’s acting land acquisition manager, said UNRA had 324 trees.
Ndahura’s claim means that UNRA would have to pay 800 million shillings according to the district’s compensation rate of 400,000 shillings.
Kagina spoke to MPs about the enormity of the legal challenges they face. “Last year we had 121 cases and 101 of them involved land acquisition.”
On the Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi-Kakumiro road, a school owner claims 600 m as compensation for part of the school. He says the 160 million assessed by UNRA is an understatement.
The deputies also inspected the modernization works of the 111 km of gravel of the Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko road to paved standards. This is at a 90% completion rate and is expected to be completed in January of next year.
Resident engineer Ronald Olaki said plans were underway to deal with rising water levels following the current rains. The project is jointly funded by the government of Uganda and the Exim Bank of China.
The other route is the modernization of the Masindi Kisanja Park Junction and Tangii Junction Paraa Buliisa project which runs through Murchison Falls National Park.
This lot includes the new Paraa Bridge, which has been designed to reduce the time lost when crossing the Nile. Its revised completion date is November 2021.
UNRA is also planning to build a new gate for the park.
The third was the modernization of the 107 km Mubende Kakumiro-Kagadi road.
Most of the MEPs’ concerns were about creating pedestrian access routes, empowering local contractors and urging contractors to speed up construction work.
