Poor infrastructure affecting progress of northern Uganda

A report from the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure has detailed how the appalling state of major roads, bridges, airfields, and bridges has affected the economic and social development of northern Uganda.

During the first of the planned regional parliamentary sitting in Gulu City yesterday, Mr Tonny Awany, the committee’s vice chairman, also Nwoya MP, tabled before the Parliament the report of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure on the state of transport infrastructure (roads, bridges, airfields, and railways) in northern Uganda.

According to the report, the dilapidating state of key infrastructural facilities, especially bridges and roads, has significantly impacted the economic progress of the region.

For example, the report detailed how the partially closed 60-plus-year-old Karuma Bridge has impacted trade and mobility across the greater northern region.

Transport difficulties

In their assessment, the committee observed that due to the temporary closure, travellers are experiencing delays in reaching their destinations, and the movement of goods and services has been significantly affected.

“Currently, heavy goods vehicles have been diverted to alternative routes, including through the Murchison Falls National Park, through eastern Uganda, and Masindi Port, thereby increasing the travel time, cost of transportation, and inconveniences to road users,” the report reads, in part.

Meanwhile, Mr Awany told Parliament that the alternative route through Masindi port had been overwhelmed by increased traffic and negatively affected by floods.

“In addition, the public facilities at Karuma and Kamdini, such as toilets, have been strained due to increased numbers of passengers on either side of the bridge as they await transportation using smaller vehicles across the bridge.”

On August 3, the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce Lira Branch wrote to the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) expressing concern about the significant bottleneck to transporting goods and services caused by the temporary closure of the bridge, especially to heavy trucks and buses.

At the time of the temporary closure, Mr Awany told Parliament that the Works ministry had recommended that goods and passengers use the Nakasongola-Zengebe road. However, this route was affected by flooding and became impassable.

The business community tasked Unra to urgently allocate resources to address the challenges on the Nakasongola-Zengebe road that have been affected by the flooding in the recent past to alleviate transport difficulties resulting from the temporary closure of the bridge at Karuma.

Consequently, due to disruptions in supply chains, it was reported that the cost of doing business had quadrupled in northern Ugandan sub-regions, Mr Awany said.

Karuma Bridge construction was completed in 1962. The bridge is a major link and gateway between the midwestern and northern Uganda and West Nile sub-regions.

In April, the minister of Works and Transport announced an immediate temporary closure of the bridge for three months to enable repair works.

Parliament also learnt that the Pakwach Bridge, a key infrastructure linking the West Nile region to the rest of the country, requires urgent repair before it is too late.

It was revealed that there are structural cracks on the abutments and expansion joints and that the embankments on the western bank of the river have weakened, with visible erosion, besides floating vegetation underneath the bridge impeding the river flow.

“This poses challenges to the performance of the bridge and might result in sudden failure, unless defects are detected and corrected early,” Mr Awnay said.

Whereas the Masindi Port Bridge is expected to be completed under Phase 4 of the Rwekunye Masindi Port-Apac Lira Puranga-Acholibur Road Project, it is anticipated to take a bit longer, the committee told Parliament.

Currently, the Karuma-Pakwach road is under reconstruction being undertaken under two separate lots; Karuma-Olwiyo (43.5km) and Olwiyo-Pakwach (62.5km) by the same contractor.

The last time the road was worked on was in 2007 with a design life of 15 years, this newspaper established.

The committee noted that a review was undertaken on the new designs by a new consultant, which resulted in significant changes in the scope and price of the project.

On the upgrade of Rwekunye, Apac, Lira, Puranga, and Acholibur roads, it was revealed that the project had a design review recently undertaken by a new consultant, resulting in significant changes in the scope and price of the project.

On the Tororo-Mbale-Soroti-Lira-Kamdini (340km) road for which the government received funding from the World Bank for implementation of an output performance-based road contract (OPRC) with a project duration of 8.5 years, the committee observed that the project is being implemented at a slow pace.

Additional costs

Whereas the committee expressed fears that further delays could lead to project extensions, which could result in additional supervision costs, Unra claimed that the delayed approvals to key installations and auxiliary sites by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) have hindered the progress as planned.

 Mr Awany observed that inadequate budget allocation is affecting the maintenance of national roads.

While the Moroto Road (through Omoro to Pader, Agago, and Abim) is key to unlocking the economic potential of the sub-region, connecting Omoro, Pader, Agago, and Abim districts, its works have taken a long time to begin.

“Developing this road to high-grade standards will not only improve regional connectivity but also boost economic activities, enhance service delivery, and reduce travel times between key districts,” the report says.

Several other road rehabilitation projects in the region are yet to kick off.

State of roads
In his submission, Mr Tonny Awany, the the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure vice chairman also told Parliament that most road networks in most local governments were, during the assessment, found to be in poor condition despite the Shs1b that the government allocated to every local government in FY2023/2024 for road maintenance.