About half of the government’s 69 flagship projects are behind schedule, raising concerns about cost overruns, higher interest payments and delayed benefits to the public.
The multimillion-dollar projects that were significantly behind schedule in March are listed in the latest report from Parliament’s Budget Committee which reviewed the 2O22/2023 budgets.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, who also serves as Treasury Secretary, initially promised to discuss the implications of the delays on the economy and the increased lending burden after the reading of the next budget exercise, which took place a week ago. Since then, he has not responded to our reminders.
Dr Joseph Muvawala, executive director of the National Planning Authority (NPA), did not respond to our request for comment.

Notable ones include the Kampala-Jinja, Kibuye-Busega-Mpigi highway, the Kampala flyover road construction and improvement project, the rehabilitation of the meter gauge railway, the East Africa (EACOP), the development of the new port of Kampala in Bukasa, the construction of the new standard gauge railway and the oil refinery in Hoima.
Only four of the 69 projects are on schedule, according to the parliamentarians’ findings, while the others are either awaiting funding or at the feasibility study or project idea stage.

According to the analysis of the Parliamentary Budget Committee, some of the successful ventures include the capitalization of strategic public companies including Uganda Development Bank (UDB), Uganda Development Corporation (UDC), Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL) and the Uganda National Oil Company. (ONUC).

Development of industrial parks in Namanve, Bweyogerere, Luzira, Soroti, Moroto, Mbale, Masaka, Jinja, Mbarara, Kasese, Luwero-Nakaseke, Arua, Gulu, Fort-Portal, Kabale, Hoima, Oraba, Onaka are also listed as “ on time”. ”.
A July 2020 report by the Africa Freedom of Information Center (AFIC), a partner in CoST Uganda, an infrastructure transparency initiative, said the government had lost over Shs 300 billion due to delays in procurement. for the works and transport, health, agriculture and education sectors.

CoST promotes “transparency by disclosing public infrastructure investment data, helping to inform and empower citizens, enabling them to hold decision makers to account,” according to information on its website.
In a report titled Promoting Fair Business Practices Between Government and the Private Sector in Public Infrastructure Project Delivery Processes in Kampala, which provides an overview of key projects over the past six months, CoST Uganda reported that 91% of contracts are completed late.

A separate May 2017 study by the Ministry of Finance’s Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit (BMAU) titled Delayed Implementation of Government Projects: To what extent is it a problem of poor planning and budgeting? found that 75% of projects were delayed due to “inefficiencies in planning and budgeting”.
Other issues highlighted in the report include late start of projects, poor timing and negotiation of land acquisition and insufficient capacity of technical staff to plan and cost projects leading to time overruns. , cost and quality.

Loan repayment
In January, the Minister of Works and Transport, General Katumba Wamala, told lawmakers that the government was losing about 123 million shillings every week in interest payments on projects which, among other things, are delayed by deficits. of financing.
Two months later, in March, he blamed the delayed construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), part of a regional northern corridor infrastructure project, on budget cuts.

The government was expecting to secure $2.1 billion from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of China to finance the 273-kilometre Malaba-Kampala first phase of the SGR project, but fundraising has stalled. headwinds as domestic politics and the result of a broad assessment of Beijing-funded overseas infrastructure projects led Xi Jinping’s government to toughen rules on grants and loans.

Under this plan, Kenya was to construct the SGR segment from Mombasa via Nairobi and Naivasha to the Malaba border to connect with Uganda which was to link South Sudan and Rwanda, thus helping to reduce costs and the transport time of goods and passengers from the coast. to inland countries.

While Kenya commissioned the Mombasa-Nairobi section of SGR in June 2017, funding shortfalls handicapped completion via Naivasha to Malaba, the Ugandan side of the project remained wet behind the scenes, stalling progress on others partner states.
China Harbor Engineering Company, a Chinese company, was contracted to carry out the work, which came to nothing for lack of money.
In its May 2017 report, the Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit of the Ministry of Finance raised delays in procurement, land acquisition and compensation as well as the incorrect timing of planned activities as bottlenecks. bottleneck for infrastructure upgrade.

The study identified gaps in the ability of technocrats to plan and cost projects and the late release of funds. Other challenges include unforeseen circumstances, drought and lack of staff in some ministries, departments, agencies and local governments.
In the past, late payment to contractors, poor equipment, bureaucracy and changing scope of work have been cited as some of the reasons frustrating the completion of government projects.

Officials have attributed some of the delays in vital projects such as the Busega-Mpigi highway to Covid-19 disruptions and associated lockdowns which have stifled supplies as well as the project’s complex terrain. The road was due to be completed in May 2022, but the deadline has since been pushed back to 2025.
The government is locked in a Shs52.4b dispute with a construction company over a claim arising out of a dispute over the construction of the Mbarara – Ntungamo – Kabale – Katuna road.

On December 29, 2010, the government contracted Reynolds Construction Company Limited (RCC) to reconstruct the Mbarara – Ntungamo – Kabale – Katuna road for €65.8 million. The European Union (EU) is funding the project.
The contract, according to the government statement, was to last 36 months and end on August 2, 2014. It was extended until August 2016.
As a result of the extension of the completion date, RCC is claiming extended costs of €14.1 million, which the government disputes.

Some delayed projects