Kampala, Uganda – Several recommendations by the Kole North MP, Dr. Opio Acuti, on the National Development Plan (NDP IV) have been adopted and will form part of the government’s development plans for the next five years from 2025 to 2030.
The National Planning Authority (NPA) in December last year engaged members of Parliament on the Draft NDP IV document. During the review, the Kole North MP made two fundamental recommendations on roads.
The first recommendation focused on the development of weather-resistant roads and bridges that are climate-resilient. In justifying his recommendation, he indicated that most of the murram roads in Uganda were not weather-resistant and ended up being washed away during the rainy season. He recommended that new road designs be developed and implemented that can withstand the harsh rainy conditions.
However, his second recommendation related to the significant variations in road construction costs. He cited construction costs of gravel roads varying more than three times between different government entities, while tarmac road costs in Uganda were twice as expensive as those in neighboring countries.
He proposed the implementation of a cost estimation manual that defines a scientific criteria for determining standard rates for road construction materials, labor prices, haulage costs, machinery costs, overheads, among others. This will help avoid cost inflation and increase value for money.
A review of the final version of NDP IV, which was laid on the floor of Parliament, indicates that these two recommendations have been included in the final NDP IV draft as one of the interventions and were adopted by Parliament in its sitting on Thursday, January 9, 2025.
