KAMPALA – The Ministry of Works and Transport has embarked on a study to establish the unit cost for the construction of roads in the country following concerns that constructing a kilometer of a road has reached UGX3.1 billion.
In 2000, constructing one kilometre of a road cost UGX 510 million. This rose to UGX1.5 billion by 2007 and UGX2.9 billion by 2017. It shot up to UGX 3.1 billion Shillings in financial year 2018/2019.
The Acting Commissioner for Policy and Planning at the ministry of Works, Mr Peter Kabanda, is quoted by Uganda Radio Network as saying that the ministry will use the study to establish the unit cost of constructing roads in consideration of various factors.
Mr Kabanda says the study entails the establishment of unit rates, quantity estimation, regional comparison and development of software-based cost estimation and a monitoring system.
UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina is quoted by Uganda Radio Network as saying that the unit cost of a road is determined by structural layers, which include, among others, location, surface, terrain, number of lanes, the purpose of the road and structure.
One of the roads that have been queried includes the four-lane highway Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, which was cost up to USD 9.3 million per kilometre. The 51-kilometre road, whose total cost is calculated at UGX1.7 trillion, has been highlighted as the costliest road project among low to middle-income countries.