Lawmakers approve Shs200 billion for better city roads

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The citizenry should look forward to better roads in the capital city after Parliament approved an additional Shs157 billion for road infrastructure development. 

Members of Parliament on Friday, 12 April 2024 gave a nod to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to reconstruct and maintain city roads in the 2024/2025 financial year after the lawmakers adopted a House committee recommendation for the additional funding. 

The report by the Committee on Presidential Affairs on the Ministerial Policy Statement and Budget Estimates of the entities under Presidential Affairs was adopted during plenary sitting chaired by Speaker Anita Among.

Presenting the report, committee chairperson, Hon. Jesca Ababiku, said that the committee established that KCCA requires Shs200 billion to undertake road infrastructure development and maintenance but only Shs43 billion is provided in the Medium Term Expenditure Fund ceiling. 

“The committee observes that the poor state of roads characterised by potholes and clogged drains results into discomfort for motorists, increased travel time, breakdown of vehicles and motorcycles and accidents,” the report read in part. 

The committee observed that whilst KCCA is projected to receive external financing of Shs549 billion, this intervention is projected to reconstruct and upgrade only 116 kilometres of the road network in Kampala while over 1,500 kilometres remain in a poor state. 

“The committee recommends that additional annual provision of Shs157 billion be availed to enable KCCA cope with the current roads maintenance demands and deal with the problem of rampant pot holes on the city roads,” the report stated.

Hon. Muhammad Nsereko, Kampala Central Division Member of Parliament, said that Kampala is the face of the nation and yet the road infrastructure is dilapidated while the streets are littered with garbage. 

“I request colleagues that since we are anticipating an increase in fuel levy and 50 percent comes from Kampala Metropolitan, let us make the City look good, we will attract more tourists and tax payers will be able to see tangible results and motivated to pay taxes,” said Nsereko. 

Furthermore, Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) is expected to transition into commercialisation after the legislators approved a recommendation for an additional Shs134 billion for operationalisation of the Jinja- based vehicle plant. 

According to the committee’s report, it was established that KMC requires Shs166.64 billion to operationalise the plant but only Shs32.5 billion is provided for. 

“Kiira Motors Corporation is one of our best projects, they have assembled and facilitated production of 21 buses and to facilitate them to transit to commercialisation, we are requesting for Shs134 billion,” said Ababiku. 

The funding gap, Ababiku said, will cater for support construction, tooling and furnishing the Kiira 4S master store, parts and materials for plant commissioning, human capital development and operating expenditure. 

KMC is a government enterprise established to champion the development of the domestic automotive value chain for job and wealth creation. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.

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