Nearly half of the road equipment procured by the Government under a US$250 million (Shs935 billion) programme to maintain district roads is no longer operational, raising fresh concerns over the sustainability and value for money of Uganda’s force account road maintenance system.
This issue was highlighted in a ministerial statement to Parliament by the Minister of Works and Transport, Fred Byamukama, who noted a growing gap between Uganda’s infrastructure goals and its ability to maintain essential road machinery.
Byamukama explained that road equipment supplied to the local governments under the Government’s force account programme is operating at only 50 per cent availability. He says there has been an improvement from 30 per cent recorded in the previous financial year after supplementary funding was released for major repairs and tyre replacement.
He said 1,151 units of road construction equipment were procured from Japan in 2017. Each of the local governments received a standard package comprising a motor grader, wheel loader, vibro roller, two dump trucks and a water bowser.
This complemented an earlier consignment of 1,405 assorted road equipment units procured from China in 2012, bringing the combined investment to more than US$250 million (approximately UGX 935 billion).
However, the report paints a troubling picture of the fleet’s condition. Availability of heavier zonal equipment, including excavators and bulldozers shared among districts, stands at only 40 per cent, while force account machinery operated by the Ministry has also reached just 40 per cent operational capacity.
Construction unit equipment remains at the same level and requires extensive repairs, while equipment supporting maintenance of the national road network is only 50 per cent available because of shortages of tyres, lubricants and other essential maintenance supplies.
Most alarming is the fate of the equipment procured from China in 2012. The Minister told MPs that only about three per cent of that fleet remains operational, effectively rendering the machinery obsolete and significantly weakening road maintenance capacity across local governments.
The Ministry warned that sustaining Uganda’s road maintenance programme will require at least 45 billion shillings to maintain district road equipment, yet only 22 billion shillings has been approved under the 2026/27 financial year budget, leaving a funding shortfall of 23 billion shillings.
“Equipment supporting maintenance of the national road network requires twenty billion shillings, against an allocation of eight billion shillings, while construction unit equipment needs 8 billion shillings but has received no budget allocation,” said the Minister.
Beyond maintenance, the Ministry identified additional unfunded priorities, including 375 billion shillings required to procure bituminous road units for cities and municipalities, more works supervision vehicles, equipment for 14 newly created districts, additional rollers, excavators, backhoe loaders and other heavy machinery needed to support road construction nationwide.
Stellamaris Nankwanga, Member of Parliament for Bugweri District, commented that the findings raise questions about the sustainability of Uganda’s force account road maintenance model, which was introduced to enable local governments to rehabilitate and maintain roads using publicly owned equipment rather than relying entirely on private contractors.
Paul Omara, Member of Parliament for Otuke County, urged the Ministry of Works and Transport to develop a comprehensive strategy as part of the Government’s broader strategy under the National Development Plan IV (NDP IV) to improve transport connectivity, reduce logistics costs and support industrialisation.
The report suggests that Uganda’s road infrastructure challenge is no longer limited to building new roads, but increasingly centres on maintaining the equipment needed to keep those roads passable, safeguard public investments and deliver reliable transport services to communities across the country.
According to the report, Uganda has an estimated 159,561km of national road networks comprising 16,548km of unpaved urban roads; 14,897km of unpaved national roads; 38,041km of unpaved district roads; an 79,947km of community access roads, among others-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
