KAMPALA: Following a recent directive by President Yoweri Museveni to have the Army’s construction unit take on public works, the Uganda National Roads Authority and the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces have entered a Memorandum of Understanding to build the army’s capacity to build and maintain roads in the country.
“Pursuant to a Presidential directive, the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) – the commercial arm of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) with the objective of building the capacity of NEC to undertake road construction and maintenance projects.
The initial contracts under the MOU will include NEC undertaking the following works,” a press release from UNRA reads.
The roads are:
1. Civil works to construct of an access road to the Children’s Surgical Hospital in Entebbe. The 4km road will enhance access to the pediatric hospital, which has since become a referral point for surgery for patients across the region.
2. Civil works for the rehabilitation of Olwiyo – Pakwach Road (62km).
3. Mechanized maintenance of 124km unpaved roads in the central region. These include Ngoma – Kyankanzi (15km), Ngoma – Kasozi – Kyamukanda (42km), Luku – Kalangala (31km), and Kalangala – Mbalabana (35km).
Commenting about the partnership, UNRA’s Executive Director Allen Kagina, said: “this partnership between two Government agencies will go a long way in ensuring that Government achieves its development objectives whilst building capacity of the local construction industry.’’
“In pursuit of Government effort to promote local construction capacity, Government put in place a framework to ensure that local contractors are developed and can participate in the national road development program.
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) regulations provide for the promotion of local content and requires that entities reserve work for local companies.
At 101, UNRA has the highest number of registered engineers in the country. It is this technically competent and experienced team that will share knowledge, experience and best practice with NEC, in a deliberate upskilling initiative as part of the partnership.
As Uganda’s economy has consistently grown, the demand for superior and industry grade roads has equally grown. Being the lifeline of Uganda’s economy, UNRA will continue to explore partnerships that allow the realization of the National Vision 2040: A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years.
This comes on the heels of a recent similar move by the president aimed at fighting corruption in delays in government procurement.
The Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last week directed the army to take charge of construction projects in various ministries.
Starting with the Ministries of Health, Education & Sports, and the President has written a letter directing action that should take immediate effect.
“As you may be aware, over time the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) has built the capacity of the Army Construction Brigade. Thus brigade has been very instrumental in implementing many projects ranging from simple to high level and advanced construction projects,” Museveni pitched in the letter dated July 01, 2021 addressed to the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sport Hon Janet Musveni and copied to the Minister of Health Hon Jane Ruth Aceng.
He added: “Because this is part of UPDF, the country has made a lot of savings in terms of funds and time.”
Museveni says that he has noted with concern that many of the government projects in other sectors are often delayed due to lengthy procurement orcesses and in other cases, corruption perpetrated by unscrupulous government workers.
“I am very certain that we can avoid all these delays in implementing government construction projects by utilising the Army Construction Brigade to undertake these works,” he counseled.
“This is, therefore to direct that with effect from Financial Year 2021/2022, all new construction projects for Health faculties and Schools must be undertaken by the Army Construction Brigade, as a pilot,. This directive will be gradually extended to cover other sectors of the Government,” he ordered.