Engineering and Technology

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Browsing Engineering and Technology by Author "Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit"

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    How can the performance of the Electricity Sub-sector be enhanced?
    (Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
    Electricity remains critical for Uganda to attain the growth trajectory and socio-economic transformation of her fast growing population. However, the overall rate of access to electricity in Uganda remains low (about 19% overall and about 8% in rural areas), while just over 3.2% of the total population has access to modern cooking fuels. The limited access to and cost of electricity has affected delivery of social services, constrained the development of small-scale industrial and commercial enterprises and disillusioned larger-scale industrial and commercial investment in the country. The Government of Uganda (GoU) has laid out a target of increasing access to electricity to 80% by 2040 under Vision 2040. The strategic actions listed in the second National Development Plan (NDP II) are to: (I) improve the power generation capacity through commissioning of an additional 3500MW of power generating capacity by 2015;(ii) expand the power grid and improve the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure through carrying out additional investments in the transmission and distribution networks of the country; and (iii) increasing access and usage of electricity by investing in least cost power generation, promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency in addition to the associated transmission and distribution infrastructure. Despite Government’s increased funding to the electricity sub-sector, the targets arising out of the above strategic actions in the NDP II have not been met. This is due to a combination several factors that have negatively impacted on the performance of the sector. These factors are discussed in this policy brief and several recommendations put forward.
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    Maintenance of National Roads: What are the key challenges?
    (Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
    Uganda has a total road network of 146,000Km of which 21,544km (14.8%) are national roads. These are under the management of Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). Of these, 4,551Km (22.2%) are paved, while 16,003Km (77.8%) are unpaved. National roads host more than 80% of the average daily road traffic on the Ugandan road network and are a strong driver for social-economic development. To sustain this development and realize long term benefits, it is essential that national roads are adequately maintained. The Government of Uganda (GoU) has made deliberate efforts to ensure that roads are maintained. In 2010, GoU established the Uganda Road Fund (URF), with an overall purpose of ensuring that all public roads are maintained at all times through the provision of adequate and stable financing to implementing agencies. Maintenance of national roads is funded through the National Roads Maintenance Programme (NRM) which is implemented by UNRA using both Force Account and contracting. UNRA has recorded some achievements, but under a constrained environment. This policy brief presents the implementation gaps in the maintenance of national roads using force account and contracting, and highlights recommendations.
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    The road maintenance backlog: A cause for concern
    (Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
    Uganda’s classified road network funded by the Uganda Road Fund (URF) is 107,020Km (URF, 2013). These are broken down as 20,552Km for Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) and 86,468Km for Districts, Urban and Community Access Roads (DUCAR) under the Local Governments’ jurisdiction. These roads are one of the country’s main assets, generating millions of dollars in revenue every year through the commercial activities that they make possible. However, some of the country’s road network is in a serious state of disrepair due to poor maintenance – a fact that is devaluing this important resource and limiting revenue generating commerce. For instance, the proportion of the district unpaved roads in fair to good condition was estimated at 61% by Financial Year (FY) 2017/18 against a target of 65%, while that of national roads was at 83% against a target of 70%. Recent studies in Uganda indicate that the routine and periodic maintenance cost for the entire life of a road is estimated to be between 2% to 3% of the initial capital investment. However, delayed maintenance is most likely to cause this amount to increase. The failure to adequately maintain the road infrastructure creates a backlog. This policy brief delves into the extent of the backlog in Uganda, and the future consequences if the strategic interventions as proposed in the recommendations are not implemented within the midterm.
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    Urban Roads Resealing Project (URRP) under Ministry of Works and Transport: Are the outputs and outcomes being achieved?
    (Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
    The Urban Roads Resealing Project (URRP) was instituted in June 2011 will end in June 2020. It aimed at rehabilitating or upgrading some of the major roads and streets within urban centres by force account. The Force Account Policy was introduced in 2012 and entails having internal skilled personnel, equipment and funds for road activities. To this effect, the Government of Uganda (GoU) acquired a loan from the Republic of China amounting to USD 100 million which was used to purchase 1,425 pieces of new road equipment. The project cost was estimated at Ug shs 147.9 billion which was revised to Ug shs134.42 billion and was to be financed by the GoU. Given the project life-span of nine (9) financial years (FYs), the annual releases in the range of Ug shs 11.50 -17.5 billion had to be released to the project for it to achieve its intended output and consequently, contribute to improved transportation system as an outcome. The Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) as the implementer plans to rehabilitate or upgrade to bitumen standard, roads in at least three (3) urban councils in every FY. Other works undertaken arise from directives and pledges to construct tarmac for government institutions and agencies. The project also fulfills some of the President’s directives relating to road works that are outside the UNRA’s mandate and beyond the scope of Local Governments (LGs). This Briefing Paper elucidates the level of achievement of the URRP key planned outputs by 31st December 2018; and assesses whether the project is likely to achieve its planned outputs and the expected National Development Plan (NDP) II outcomes by June 2020. It further highlights key obstacles faced during implementation, lessons learnt and possible recommendations. Performance Rating: A quantitative scoring method was used to rate the extent to which the planned outputs were achieved. The performance scores are as follows: Very Good (90% and above); Good (70%-89%); Fair (50%-69%) and Poor (Less than 50%).