The Ministry of Works and Transport through its Department of Policy and Planning held its 1st Annual Integrated Transport Infrastructure and services (ITIS) Program Workshop on the 27th of January, 2022. The workshop reviewed the sector’s performance under the National Development Plan (NDP) III. The ITIS report tracks the performance (Physical and Financial) in implementing the planned annual program outputs and the extent and direction of movement towards the program’s annual results targets.
The workshop was held under the theme, “Securing our Future by Optimizing Transport Assets Performance”. This theme is important considering that Transport infrastructure is one of the most important factors for any country to achieve economic progress. Therefore, transport asset management is key and provides a rationale for proper decision making on sustainability and quality of the transport infrastructure. Optimization of our transport assets will ensure greater accountability and improved performance of transport services. Well-maintained transport infrastructure ensures good connectivity and adds speed and efficiency to the Country’s progress and is essential for economic growth.
In FY 2020/21, Parliament appropriated a total Budget of UGX 5,583.623bn to the Integrated Transport Infrastructure and Services Program representing 14.61% of the National Budget. The government contributed UGX 3,313.67bn representing 59.3% while the Development Partners contributed UGX 2,269.955Bn representing 40.7%. This has enabled the Program to implement a number of projects under road, railway, air and inland water transport.
Under Roads sub-sector, the Country has a total road network of 159,363 km which comprise of 20,854 km of National Roads; 38,603 km of District Roads; 19,959km of Urban Roads and 79,947 km of Community Access Roads. In FY 2020/21, a total of 221km of national roads and 120km of town roads were upgraded to bituminous standards while 167.7km of national roads were rehabilitated. Also, 16 (sixteen) bridges on the national roads network were completed.
With this progress, the total paved stock of the national road network by the end of FY 2020/21 stood at 5,591km. As for the Road condition; the national road network in good to fair condition was 96.6% for paved and 81.7% for unpaved roads this was above the NDP III targets of 85% and 80% respectively.
On the DUCAR network, a total of 387.32km out of the targeted 567.2km District roads were graveled while 8.04km of urban roads were rehabilitated and upgraded to bituminous standard out of the targeted 14.7km. Also, 11 bridges out of fifteen were substantially completed.
Lastly, 890km of community access roads out of the targeted 1,269.6 km were rehabilitated. For KCCA roads, a total of 25.5km of roads were upgraded/ rehabilitated.
The Air transport sub-sector was most affected by the covid-19 outbreak in the last quarter of FY 2019/20, and FY 2020/21. The overall traffic performance was negatively affected with both passengers and commercial aircraft movements performing below anticipated growth. International passenger traffic performed below target by close to 60%. This is on account of devastating effects of Covid-19 where most countries restricted international travel in order to reduce the spread of the pandemic.
In FY 2020/21, the ITIS Program focused on the following Projects under the Air Sub Sector; Rehabilitation and expansion of Entebbe International Airport, Development of Kabaale International Airport, Revitalization of the National Airlines, Improvement of regional aerodromes and the operationalization of the East African Civil Aviation Academy.
Government has embarked on developing the Railway Subsector in order to facilitate easy movement of heavy cargo across borders, with the support of Development Partners government has prioritized both the rehabilitation of the Meter Gauge and development of the Standard Gauge railway.
In this regard, Government is implementing the following key projects under the Railway subsector; Rehabilitation of Tororo-Gulu MGR line, Rehabilitation of Malaba-Kampala MGR line, Rehabilitation of Gulu-Pakwach MGR line, Development of Malaba-Kampala SGR and Development of Gulu Logistics Hub.
The development of inland water transport is a key priority for the ITIS Program as it is one of the cheapest modes of transport. During the period under review, the Program achieved the following key milestones; processed the Inland Water Transport Bill 2020, which was passed by the Parliament on 10th May 2021.
Works for Kinawataka – Bukasa access road to Bukasa port have been completed. Rehabilitation of Marine Vessels (i.e. Mv Pamba) to operationalize the central corridor.
Also, the Program provided the following ferry services; Nakiwogo, Kiyindi, Mbulamuti, Bisina, Masindi, Kyoga – I, Kyoga – II, Albert Nile –1, Laropi, Obongi, Amuru, and Sigulu.
According to the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, the overall, Program performance of the Sector during FY 2020/21 was to a great extent satisfactory despite challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.