The Prime Minister of Uganda, Rt Hon Robinah Nabbanja, has ordered a review of the oilseed road costs project.
She issued the directive on August 1, 2024, during a parliamentary session in response to concerns raised by Kole North MP, Hon Samuel Opio Acuti.
In his submission, the Kole North MP informed the House that the Ministry of Local Government had allocated shs110 billion to 81 districts for the construction of 15 kilometres of community access roads with first-class murram.
This translated to shs90.5 million per km. However, in the budget framework paper for fiscal year 21/22, the Ministry of Works and Transport provided an indicative planning figure of shs30 million per km.
In his district of Kole, however, road contracts were recently awarded at a cost of shs15 million per km.
MP Acuti questioned how three government entities could charge different rates for roads in the same district, despite using the same design standards.
He further submitted concerns on another road project by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development in which each km was being constructed at over shs 200 million.
“Right Hon Prime Minister, I have noted that each Ministry has its own road construction rates for first class murram,” Kole North MP stated, adding, “With the current oilseed project budget, each district could receive three to six times more km of road.”
In her response to the matter raised during the Prime Minister’s time, Nabbanja informed the House that her office was investigating the matter. She also stated that in her district of Kakumiro, a kilometre of murram is being built for shs9.8 million.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker, who was chairing the House, informed the Prime Minister that her response was inadequate because the oilseed road project evaluation was still ongoing, and any delay in intervening would be ineffective.
Following this, Nabbanja directed the Minister of Local Government to halt the procurement process until the various costs were harmonised.
The Deputy Speaker also asked the Prime Minister to investigate the issue of several Ministries undertaking road projects outside of their core mandate.
The oil seed project is currently being implemented in 81 districts through a variety of interventions, including the construction of 2,500 kilometres of community access roads.
On July 25, MP Dr. Acuti sent a letter to Local Government Minister Raphael Magezi requesting an intervention regarding shs90 billion in inflated road costs under the oilseed project.
Among other key concerns in his letter, Kole North MP sought clarification on the inflated costs as well as a proposal for lowering them to allow for more roads to be covered per district.
Source: tndNews.
