2023 should be a year of quick turnaround on public projects

The process of creating the new budget has begun as Ugandans prepare to ring in the New Year.

The expedited completion of government projects without sacrificing quality must be one of the priorities for 2023 and the upcoming budget. Due to the fact that the majority of public construction projects are funded by tax dollars, delays and cost overruns are a major worry. Cost overruns and project delays must be kept to a minimum. We must determine the causes and place them in order of frequency, seriousness, and importance.

Changes in the scope of the job, payment delays, shoddy monitoring and control, a high cost of capital, and political instability/uncertainty are some of the factors that contribute to delays.

In some cases, tax payers are required to pay interest on loans financed projects long before construction on those projects actually begins. Additionally, overseeing bodies should make sure that the country’s procurement laws aren’t misused to cause unneeded delays. According to a July 2020 report by the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC), delayed public procurement cost the government more than Shs300 billion. In case of compensation, we hope it will be timely to avoid stalling public works.

We support the Finance ministry’s decision to continuously evaluate projects based on performance before giving them the go-ahead.

It should become standard practice to put projects on hold when needless delays occur, along with consequences against the organisations and individuals responsible for the expenses to the tax payers.

Support should be provided for specialised teams to be established by anti-corruption organisations like the Inspectorate of Government to examine public projects for signs of corruption and other problems. For instance, a road project shouldn’t be delayed for three years due to prospective contractors accusing one another of corruption. Within Kampala City, several road improvements are about to get started. We anticipate that these will be carried out without delay, quickly, and successfully.

The Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors and others have expressed concerns to the government about payments being delayed for government projects, which has an impact on the intended service delivery.

The impact of the several projects that have been postponed is known. Most of these are included in reports from the Auditor General and the Parliament. These are also chronicled in the reporting of this newspaper. We urge government to do better in 2023 so that we can witness genuine advancement.

According to government research, over 75 percent of projects experience delays because of inefficiencies in planning and budgeting. Other problems include the inability of technical staff to plan and estimate the costs of projects, the poor timing and negotiation of land acquisition, and the delayed start of projects. We think that the government can properly handle these issues.