Parliament has rejected plans by the government of Uganda to abolish the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee in its report on Tuesday warned MPs against abolishing UNRA, saying this would lead to delays in the execution of projects and that the Authority should be retained because it has served the mandate for which it was created and thus, still relevant in Uganda.
Dan Kimosho (Kazo County) defended the position of Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee, arguing that Uganda still requires to undertake major national road projects such as tolled expressways and managing toll operations, dualling of major road corridors, flyovers and long span bridges (such as the Nile Bridge).
He said all these projects require more specialist skills and efficient management than even what UNRA has currently and UNRA should rather be enhanced instead of mainstreaming it.
“Government is likely to suffer a setback of delayed project implementation and completion of such important and strategic road infrastructure because of the shocks that come with the rationalization process. Further, aware of the challenges that may currently exist at UNRA such as the bloated structure, inadequate stakeholder management as well as other governance challenges, UNRA has served the purpose of its creation and it is still relevant given the importance attached to the development of the national roads network,” added Kimosho.
The Physical Infrastructure Committee also rejected the government argument that UNRA’s existence has imposed a financial drain on state resources, citing the Shs75Bn UNRA collected in toll revenues from the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway which is deposited into the Consolidated Fund after operational and maintenance costs have been catered for and this revenue is expected to increase upon the completion of Busega-Mpigi Expressway.
The Committee also defended UNRA’s purported bloated wage bill noting that one of the objectives for the creation of the Authority with attractive remuneration was because the Ministry had failed to attract highly skilled staff due to low salaries.
“The same Ministry cannot at this point be indicating that attractive remuneration offered by UNRA is a problem. Furthermore, the issue of salary disparities is not only limited to UNRA and it cuts across the entire Public Service,” said chairperson Dan Kimosho
Kimosho also said taxpayers would have to dig deeper into their pockets and raise Shs227.24Bn as payment of compensation to all UNRA staff that will be laid off, if the decision to abolish the agency is upheld by MPs.
“The Certificate of Financial Implications, Shs11.562Bn had been mentioned as terminal benefits for UNRA staff, yet from the interactions, it became apparent that UNRA would require Shs227.24 Billion as severance package for staff. This is a huge cost which would erode the stated savings from the merger. It is also inappropriate to incur this unjustified cost amidst accumulated contractor debts that have to be paid,” he said.
Works and Transport Minister Gen Katumba Wamala claimed that abolishing of UNRA will see Government save Shs39Bn monthly in wages, paid to the current bloated human resource structure of the Authority, and have this money used to construct roads in order to relieve Ugandans of potholes.
But MP could have none of it. “Let UNRA stay because it is handling critical work. If it wasn’t for UNRA, we who come from Western Uganda would be cut off,” Hon. Naboth Namanya (Rubabo County) said.
With majority of MPs backing the plan to retain UNRA, Katumba Wamala asked for more time to table fresh amendments to the Uganda National Roads Authority Amendment Bill 2024.