Uganda is among the world’s countries most dependent on its roads network. It is a big country, about 90% of the size of California in both area and population. But whereas California has close to 90,000 miles of maintained non-urban roads, Uganda has a little more than 2,000 miles of paved roads, with most of these being of only a single lane or two lanes. Moreover, landlocked Uganda has little in the way of alternative rail or air transport facilities, so that roads are just about the only option available for people to move around and to transport internally, or to export goods and produce. Therefore, the insufficient and precarious state of the nation’s roads is clearly impacting negatively on economic and social progress and hindering the full development of the country’s natural resources, besides holding back wider regional integration within the East African Community.
The country depends on its agricultural sector to provide livelihoods for 60% of its people, yet it is difficult to get produce and crops to market. One single, two-lane road into Kenya takes about 80% of Uganda’s exports, so just one road accident can cut off overseas business.
Gasoline is very expensive because of the high cost of transporting it around the country on dilapidated roads, yet this is a country with barely-exploited oil reserves.
Tourism is underdeveloped, communities and regions suffer from a lack of accessibility, and countless economic opportunities go unexploited, all because of deficient roads.
It is difficult to think of any other economic sector in Uganda where investment could so quickly and so radically transform the country’s development prospects and the life perspectives of its citizens, through the catalytic role investment in roads could play in this country and the economic multiplier effect that careful and prioritized investment would produce.
The government has allocated about $4 billion to pave some 40 priority roads. James Abraham Byandaala, the Minister of Works and Transportation, recognizes the scale of the task the country faces, with “funding being a problem “, despite assistance provided from the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The World Bank-supported Uganda Transport Sector Development Project, an initiative aimed at improving links with some neighboring countries to the west, will now end in early 2016. The government has concluded an agreement with China’s Exim Bank to finance an expressway between Kampala and Entebbe at a cost of $450 million, and is one the minister expects to be a toll road. It is a model of public-private partnership that is a fairly new initiative to Uganda.
“The opportunities are here If you look at the EA sub-region, right from Ethiopia to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique. The earlier you come to invest, the better”
James Abraham Byandaala,
Minister of Works and Transportation
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“Roads directly support the economy, they keep the country together, allowing its citizens to work as a unit. roads unite us.”
Arthur Ssebbugga Kimieze,
Executive Director of UNRA |
Starting along the right road In 2008, the
Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) started operations with the responsibility for the management, operation, development and maintenance of the country’s classified road network. The move has already produced improvements, with more than 600 miles of roads having been completed in the last five years and 750 miles more now under construction. UNRA’s Executive Director, Arthur Ssebbugga Kimeze, recognizes that this is only a start in this landlocked country where roads “constitute the predominant mode of transport with 90% of cargo movements and 90% of passenger journeys being made by road” and where “roads impact every aspect of socio-economic development”. Mr. Kimeze emphasizes, however, that the Authority’s Road Master Plan is not only national in its perspective but that it also aims to bring about the modernization of “the corridors that link with neighboring countries because they support regional growth”.
The national budget for 2013-2014 allocated some $720 million to UNRA for new roads, the greatest amount the Authority had ever had and proof of the government’s commitment to seriously tackling the problem. At the same time, UNRA has been developing a model of “contractor-facilitated financing procurement,” effectively an initiative to bring additional private-sector capital into the nation’s roads. UNRA has also instituted a highly transparent and accountable tendering and adjudication procedure, including the extensive use of foreign engineering consultants to fully vet all aspects before a contract is awarded. Mr. Kimeze states that “this has given our system credibility and bidders are confident that the playing field is level.” He is proud of UNRA’s mission and of its achievements so far, stating that “roads directly support the economy, they keep the country together, allowing its citizens to work as a unit, roads unite us.”
International experience delivering quality One of the international companies with a major presence in Uganda is
Kolin Construction Company from Turkey. Country Manager Bruhan Nassur states that Kolin is not in Uganda only for one particular contract, but that it has been in the country since 2010, with one of the attractions being the “fair, clear and attractive tendering process” followed by UNRA.
The Kolin group already has an extensive record of contracts carried out in a number of other countries in Africa, including Libya, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
Mr. Nassur emphasizes that his group always uses first-rate materials, as well as construction equipment from USA and Germany. He points out that their roads last 20 years – a very important consideration with the heavy use that is usual in Africa. Kolin already has 800 staff in Uganda, of which 90% are local people, a measure of their commitment to contributing to long-term growth in the country.
Kolin pre-qualified for three tenders in Uganda and it is now undertaking the upgrading of the country’s 57-mile Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road, from gravel to first-class tarmac.
Mr. Nassur says that their intention from the start was to “deliver a high-quality job using skilled expatriate engineers” and to intensively train Ugandan staff so as to build up a strong local capability. He emphasizes that this involved bringing in a new work culture, one of working to international quality standards while still meeting tough deadlines.
Mr. Nassur adds, “I think that Kolin was the first contractor in Uganda to deliver the completed job before the deadline.” Kolin has a long-term vision to build a very sizable presence in the country, perhaps going beyond construction projects and into other areas in which the group has expertise.
According to Mr. Nassur, possibilities include cement production, tourism, mining and energy. He adds that “focusing on infrastructure is the right way to go.”
Building local skills and capability.
The government is keen to develop a local capability in the roads sector and UNRA’s Mr. Kimeze emphasizes that this ambition extends to contractors, consultants and suppliers.
It is also seeking to strengthen regulatory and professional institutions involved in the construction industry.
“I think that kolin was the first contractor in uganda to deliver the completed job before the deadline”
BRUHAN NASSUR,
Country Director of Kolin Construction, Tourism, Industry and Trading Co. Inc.
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“An international partner would be able to benefit from our vast experiecne and knowledge of the industry while learning more about uganda”
Baguma Crescent,
Director of BCR General Ltd. |
He states that there is a large scope for local participation in roadworks, but “at the moment, the local firms are mainly engaged in low-value road maintenance.”
He adds that UNRA “would like to develop them so that they could compete for new works and for the reconstruction of existing roads.”
Mr. Kimeze also mentions the possibility of small local firms partnering with international companies in tendering for bigger work, thus growing their own capability as the work is executed, also making reference to the government’s Crossroads Program, which helps small contractors in the provision of the tender security they need to supply when putting in bids for work.
One local firm that has built a strong presence in road-building is
BCR General (Uganda) Ltd., whose Managing Director Baguma Crescent Rusoke explains that they “take on the smaller, more local jobs, because of funding reasons; we only take on jobs that we can see through to the end.”
Mr. Rusoke states, however, that quality is always a prime consideration for his company and he adds that linking with an overseas company would be mutually beneficial, saying, “An international partner would be able to benefit from our vast experience and knowledge of the industry while learning more about Uganda.”
He agrees with the idea of empowering local contractors, referring to the “trickle-down effect on local communities” that this would generate. BCR General presently has three contracts with UNRA and has already worked on a variety of roads projects totaling more than 2,500 miles – a good example of local entrepreneurship.
Looking straight aheadJames Abraham Byandaala, the Minister of Works and Transportation, notes the efforts made by Uganda over the last five years to upgrade its roads.
“The government sees this investment as a precursor to the country’s social and economic development,” comments the minister.
He adds that specific priority has been given to roads in agriculturally productive areas, to regions with oil potential and to tourism locations, besides of course the country’s export routes.
The minister and also UNRA now want to build on this to involve major international companies more extensively, while also fostering the development of an indigenous capability.
The management structure is in place, the tendering and adjudication process is recognized as exemplary. This is a young country with unexploited resources and tremendous potential in a region of great strategic importance; it is a country with hopes and ambitions, and a belief in doing things the right way.
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