COMMENT: Bright future for transport sector

UNRA’s expressways, flyover projects, and more will lead to reduction in traffic congestion in the city

COMMENT | AHMED AYUB | On many fronts in the recent past, we have seen the artistic impressions of various projects and most astounding of all the beautiful impressions that the Uganda National Roads Authority has promised to deliver as part of its mandate since inception in 2008.

A publication by researchers at Center for International Development at Harvard University titled “New 2025 Global Growth Projections Predict China’s Further Slowdown and the Continued Rise of India,” demonstrated that economic growth moved from China to India, further, providing interesting information on how growth in emerging markets is predicted to outshine that of advanced economies. The same research flashes the torch on Uganda indicating optimism about the whole new growth hubs in East Africa and highlighting Uganda as one of the fastest growing economies to 2025 at 7.7 percent annually. The report, further apportions a significant fraction to population growth with Uganda making presence on the list of those 10 fastest growing countries in the decade ahead.

However, this growth can’t be listed without identifying the fundamental factors which determine the ability of the economy to achieve economic growth which among other things include economic resources available to the society and efficiency of their use.

Uganda government has recently invested heavily in the road infrastructure with the roads sector bagging the biggest chunk of the monies annually. The whole idea about the heavy investment is aimed towards providing good road infrastructure that will be able to spur economic growth with the hope that this will merge the expectations and the rate of growth. Since its inception Uganda National Roads Authority has been mandated to develop a road network of about 21,000km within the borders and linking to its neighboring nations.

Overtime, the rate of economic growth in mostly the capital Kampala, has seen the increase in purchase of motor vehicles for both personal and commercial (taxis,buses and boda bodas) use. This has increased competition for the small space and yet the urge for many urbanites to make ends meet also grows by the day.

Road infrastructure has overtime proved to affect the flexibility and mobility of the workforce, which is reflected in the employment level with time loss being a major indicator. Moreover, higher employment level makes the standard of living grow. The level of infrastructure development has an impact on various economic key areas, such as the development of the tourism industry, influx of foreign investments and the recent non-tariff barrier of regional development among others. However traffic congestion in and out of Kampala which is the integral business base for the nation threatens its very own potentials.

In coping with these growing demands and traffic growth, the roads authority (UNRA) has reached out in sourcing for funds to provide expressways and a flyover that are expected to manage better the traffic and also spur more transformation.

With the major towns along the business transport corridors the ease in link between major towns seeking to harness regional and international business through the export and import of various goods and services stand vital in its recent reforms of a business like module in operation.

UNRA with full understanding that a well-developed network of roads and a superior road infrastructure (motorways and expressways) aims towards a better future for the nation has developed plans that involve a fly over, road upgrading, pedestrian bridge, junction upgrades and an underpass at Nsambya.

This coupled with the Kampala-Northern bypass that is right now under-going a second phase of expansion that will link to the 51km Kampala-Entebbe Expressway with a spur towards the affluent Munyonyo neighborhood.

The authority, has also embarked on ensuring through phases the delivery of a 77km Kampala-Jinja Expressway that links with the iconic first cable stay bridge in the country over the Nile river that is undergoing construction with a projected completion in 2018. The same expressway which is a toll road like the Kampala Entebbe Expressway will provide road users with an easy link between the international airport and the beautiful home of the Nile River through the bustling business capital, Kampala.

Under the new management, the zeal has also undertaken to focus on the Kampala Southern by-pass, Kampala-Mpigi Expressway, Kampala-Bombo Expressway, a Kampala outer beltway through Seeta-Matugga-Wakiso-Buloba-Nsangi which is projected to manage the haulage business and a VVIP Nakasero bypass that will end the traffic disruption in the city. All these, are intertwined to oversee the reduction in traffic congestion and also grapple with the projected economic development that is expected to be boosted by the oil production in the Albertine region that UNRA is currently with all hands on deck working to see a network of approximately 700km new roads developed by 2020.

With such projects delivered and management’s focus towards reducing the cost of road construction, improved service delivery, an excellent time proved leadership of patriotic transparency and corruption free team the nation only with bated breath await the potentials that are within the new national roads authority. The management which believes and has indeed kick-started the building of internal capacity to form a construction unit and also providing more support to local contractors, the business cloud in the country is about to be provided with boundless opportunities that will provide employment to the fast growing employable section of Ugandans hence cascading the ability to drive a nation towards indeed a middle income standard.

It was the theoretical physicist Stephen William Hawking who said “the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.” Let us as individuals provide the support needed to the new management that seeks to drive a new team of young Ugandans towards the spectrum of possibilities that will be integral in national development.

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Ahmed Ayub is Senior Officer Media Relations at the Uganda National Roads Authority