UNRA seeks Shs690b for road maintenance

The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is asking for Shs690 billion to carryout thorough road maintenance across the country.
 UNRA’s legal director, Ms Mary Kutesa, who presented the authority’s budget framework paper for Financial Year 2023/2024 to Parliament’s committee on Physical Infrastructure, said annually UNRA is only allocated Shs307 billion which is 44.5 per cent of the of the required budget.

“Due to the budget suppression in the year ending June 2022, UNRA received Shs235 billion which is 76 per cent of the allotted budget. To fully address the maintenance challenges, UNRA requires additional funding equivalent to Shs383 billion,” she said on Friday.
Ms Kutesa who represented the Authority’s executive director Ms Allen Kagina, was responding to an issue raised by the committee about the prolonged torrential rains that have affected progress of works on construction projects and required emergency road maintenance works across the country.

She, however, noted that UNRA would continue to give updates about its work plans using the most current climate/weather data available.
Heavy rains from last year worsened the state of roads across the country, creating a nightmare for motorists and travelers.
Most of the roads, especially in the upcountry areas have become impassable, with heavy-duty vehicles getting stuck for days as some merchandise rot.
Motorists spend more hours trying to navigate through the roads that have left their cars damaged on top of incurring more fuel costs.

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When asked about the poor expenditure performance where the entity only spent 0.8 per cent of the approved budget by end of the first quarter of Financial Year 2022/2023, Ms Kutesa told MPs that there was a budget suppression that resulted into zero release in the first quarter.
“In the second quarter, the Ministry of Finance released a significant portion of the approved budget and the performance improved to 32 per cent against the target of 50 per cent,” she submitted.
According the entity’s budget framework paper, Shs 777b has been slashed. They have been allotted Shs 1.9 trillion whereas last year the entity was allotted Shs 2.6 trillion.

As a result, Ms Kutesa told the committee that this would cause delay in designs for a number of NDPIII projects, delayed acquisition of land and failure to meet counterpart funding as well as inability to absorb the budget due to inadequate funds.
Also due to the inadequate resources, UNRA shall only handle 10 projects listed under the budget framework paper and these include; Kampala-Jinja Highway (72km), Busunju-Kiboga-Hoima (145km), Mityana-Mubende and Mityana (86km) Town Roads (14km), Alwii-Nebbi (33km) and Olwiyo-Pakwach Road (62.5km), which are already ongoing.
The other five projects under procurement include; Mbarara-Ishaka (62km), Mbarara-Ibanda (65km), Kikorongo-Mpondwe (38.3km), Mubende-Kyegegwa-Kyenjojo (89.3km) and Nebbi-Arua (64km).

Given the spate of road carnage especially during the festive season, the committee sought clarity why the design of roads does not cater for partitioning to minimise head-on collisions, especially along highways.
Ms Kutesa explained that the provision of dual carriageway roads is guided by the Road Design Manual and depends on the volume of traffic.
“Dual carriageway roads cost a lot more money to construct and must therefore be economically justified based on the volume of traffic. Where the traffic does not meet the minimum threshold, roads cannot be partitioned due to government’s limited resources and competing priorities,” Ms Kutesa explained.

“It is for that reason that UNRA is constructing dual carriageways for high capacity roads like the Kampala Northern Bypass, Entebbe Expressway and all climbing upcoming expressways to minimise accidents. On the other major corridors, climbing lanes are being provided for slow moving vehicles to enhance safety by avoiding conflicts between slow moving heavy vehicles and faster vehicles,” she further elaborated.