A multi-billion deal was signed yesterday by the Government of Uganda with the China Railway Seventh Group to design and construct Masindi-Biso, Kabaale-Kizirafumbi and Hohwa-Nyairongo-Kyarushesha-Butole road.

The 97km road is segment of the 700 kilometre significant oil roads that are supposed to be tarmacked before the onset of oil production in 2021.

The road buildup will cost Shs504b and is anticipated to be completed within 36 months, with two years of defects liability period as mentioned by the Officials from Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra).

While the contract was being signed at the Unra head offices in Kampala, Ms Allen Kagina, the executive director in authority, said all the preparatory work for the construction have been accomplished which include, data required for the design of the roads, preparation of the feasibility reports, preparation of resettlement operation plan and environmental social impact evaluation.

Financing

Ms. Allen Kagina said the work will initiate in May and is anticipated to be completed in May 2021 and the contractor is expected to deliver quality work in time.

“The contract agreement between Unra and the contract is to the effect that the contractor will pre-finance and execute works for a period of 12 months from the commencement date while government of Uganda secures funds for paying or the works to be executed,” Ms Kagina said.

She also added that government has already obtained 50.4 per cent right of the way on the project impacted areas, which she said is above the 30 per cent needed to hand over the site to the contractor.

“To date we have verified 2,774 project affected persons and paid 66.4 per cent of the persons and acquired 50.4 per cent right of way ready for implementation of works. We have also valued and verified up to 10,841 project affected persons along packages 1, 2, 3 & 4 roads and managed to pay 56.8 per cent of them. Payment of the remaining person are pending release by the Ministry of Finance,” she said.

Local manpower

Ms Kagina said government has reserved 30 per cent of the works on the road to be done by the local contractors to build their capacities for bigger future contracts.She said a project management team is already in place to monitor the performance of local content compliance in the contract.Mr Michael Ochola, the team leader for bridges at Unra, who will also supervise the bridge construction under the current contract said the lifespan of the roads will be between 15-20 years.Mr Bian Peng who represented the Chinese construction firm promised to abide by the set guidelines by delivering timely quality work.