The Permanent Secretary and Treasury Secretary, Infrastructural development will be the government’s primary focus in the upcoming fiscal year 2023/2024 as the nation pushes toward an economic boom, according to Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Dr. Ramathan Ggoobi.
The transport industry has been allotted the largest portion of the sh53 trillion budget.
The works and transportation industry received a total of 4.5 trillion sh. The World Bank has allocated an additional $608 million (sh2.2 trillion) for the construction of roads and other infrastructure projects in the Greater Kampala area.
While the overall objective of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year is to redirect additional resources, Ggoobi noted during the Post Budget Dialogue on Friday at the Serena Kampala Hotel. Infrastructure development has been given priority through taxes and borrowing for wealth creation.
The improvement of the transportation infrastructure is one of our top financial goals. Construction on the standard gauge railway (SGR) has started. Following a lengthy period of investigation, funding has been given to begin this. said Ggoobi.
People will watch activities leading to the construction of the standard gauge railway, which East African countries have agreed is the top priority for improving connectivity and economic integration of the region, Ggoobi added. $2 billion has been allocated for the project. Uganda is a landlocked nation. We require affordable transportation. Potholes are caused by moving freight 800 miles on very narrow highways like Jinja Road, according to Ggoobi.
Ggoobi noted that as industrialization encourages socio-economic transformation, the transportation issue will be resolved by keeping cargo off the local roads for competing firms to create and export manufactured goods.
“Due to the weight of the trucks, Jinja Road’s left side has sunk. As you head toward Jinja, the right side is suitable. Therefore, the short route that links us to Mombasa is marked with the Ugandan trade balance, according to Ggoobi.
The repair of the meter gauge railway, which will serve as a stop-gap measure while they work on the SGR and also step up road maintenance, is Ggoobi’s top priority, followed by the SGR.
“In the past ten years, we have built highways in Uganda and tarmacked the majority of the country’s connecting roadways. Now you travel the entire country on tarmac between borders. said Ggoobi. The focus is placed on the fact that the dry weather roads connecting the villages to the tarmac have not been maintained despite the fact that those are the locations of the villages, gardens, farms, and small factories. Of great importance to Matia, The finance minister, Kasaija, stated that each district, city, and municipality has received Shs 1 billion for road grading, murram, and compacting. Currently, a total of sh176b has been allotted for the roads in Uganda’s 146 districts, 56 municipalities, and 11 cities.
The Kampala Flyover, Rushere Town, and Kyamate Access Roads, as well as Atiak- Laropi, Moroto-Lokitanyala, Namugonde-Bugiri, and Nsambya-Mukwano, are among the 16 national road projects that will be finished by the government in the 2023/24 fiscal year.
Priority will also be given to finishing the Bukungu-Kagwara-Kaberamaido ferry and associated landing sites, as well as the Lake Bunyonyi ferries and their landing sites, as well as maintaining the current road networks, including both national and community access roads.
According to Kasaija, the new project will address issues including flooding, traffic jams, poor road conditions, unsignalized intersections, and unemployment in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, which includes the districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, and Mpigi.
Anita Among, Speaker of Parliament, disputed Kasaija’s claim that the emergency repairs to the Kampala-Malaba meter gauge railway were finished as a result of the loan’s modified terms. He declared that the next fiscal year will see the start of the renovation of the meter gauge railway lines between Kampala and Malaba and Tororo and Gulu.
