When I followed the explanations by the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. Fred Byamukama, while appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure Development, I got a bit disturbed because this is a man who had assured Ugandans that he was a solution for the Ministry of Works.
The minister who had labelled the previous ministers as not assertive on the issues in the Ministry of Works has also started singing the song which was used by the previous ministers.
In his explanation to the committee, Hon. Byamukama revealed that delayed land acquisition is among the key challenges affecting the speedy construction, upgrading and rehabilitation of various roads and bridges.
He was presenting a detailed statement on the status of roads in the country. Mr. Byamukama said various roads would have been completed by now if the land had been acquired in time.
According to him, out of the total road network of 159,561 km, the largest network, comprising 150,679 km, is unpaved, representing about 94.43 percent, and only 5.57 percent is paved. The country still faces the challenge of the high costs of acquiring the Right of Way (RoW) for transport infrastructure projects, as well as climate change effects, which lead to the deterioration of transport assets,” he said.
He told the committee that 27 national roads measuring 912.9 km are undergoing upgrading, but 739.3 km, translating into 81 percent, are facing challenges of delayed land acquisition.
Among these is the 21 km government-funded Kira Road, whose construction by the Chinese firm, Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO), commenced on January 19, 2021, with an expected completion date of June 13, 2027. However, more than five years down the road, the works remain at 40.1 percent.
My question is, why then rush to cause the dismissal of other well-experienced engineers? Did you have a meeting with them before you guys rushed with your unverified report to the President, piling the blame on the dismissed engineers as corrupt and those who caused the projects to delay?
I am surprised you have also started seeing the challenges that could have caused many construction projects and roads to delay, but not the supervising engineers.
My lovely brother, I can assure you, not yet. There’s a lot that needs to be addressed in that ministry, including timely funding for many construction projects.
Our Badman General Muhoozi Kainerugaba is watching what’s going on. Do you know him? He is a Badman General who doesn’t dine with the corrupt as long as he has the evidence against you, so your turn is also coming.
Long live our Badman General Muhoozi, and long live our Mzee Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
The writer is the senior veteran journalist.
