NEWS ANALYSIS

Fight over road contracts

Local contractors say they

By Ian Katusiime

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improve the condition of roads through tarmacking and maintenance. In the 2015/16 Financial Year,
up to 400kms of roads are to be bituminised, 2,600kms of unpaved roads and 120km of urban paved
roads are to be maintained. Currently, there are 16 road projects under way totalling to 1,143 kilome-
tres. Major modern highways are to be built with public expenditure on roads expected to hit Shs2.3
trillion (approx. US$630 million).

is being done by foreign contractors,


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person of the National Planning Authority,

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of the Association of Consulting Engineers,


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plex and too tedious for the average local

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Road rollers on the Masaka Mbarara Highway.

Road construction in Uganda is dominated by
foreign-owned firms. INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA
20

Sept. 18 - 24, 2015

The other issue is the bid securities




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As a result of such practices, several

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sector regulatory body, suggested the big



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roads only involved resealing the surface


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The Bill, which is still before Cabinet

proposes that for every contract awarded

NEWS ANALYSIS

Ugandan workers at a construction site on the Masaka-Mbarara road.



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should be exclusively awarded a section

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Briefcase companies win


study to establish the scope of the road con-



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which successfully bid for the construction


INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA

Even as they are rated

highly, the foreign
contractors have in some
cases delayed projects and
done shoddy work. Some of
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been accused of violating
labour laws and paying
local employees peanuts

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try in Uganda is riddled with such phoney

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tors have easy access to credit, have liaison


projects but the industry just learns of the

contract after it has already been awarded

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When you advertise the bids, the foreign

contractors will obviously outbid the local






subject to secretive bidding and excessive

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nies not only for patriotic reasons but also to

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not have had any tales about a contractor





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contracts, they do not have to go abroad to







said starving local contractors of work weak-

will still buy back dollars when they are paid



"Even as they are rated highly, the foreign

of violating labour laws and paying local


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istrative work, the grader operators, the por-
ters, the people who do the essential work
are Ugandans and they cry out due to their

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was aware of these frustrations and was
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in Uganda to subcontract part of the work


help in the capacity building of the local

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Sept. 18 - 24, 2015

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