By Hanning Mbabazi
Kampala: Ms Allen Kagina, the UNRA executive director, appearing before the Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), on 25th June said the dispute over the affected land for the flyover might delay the project. Allen Kagina says that any delays in the project will be met with a fine of $81,000 (about Shs300 million) per day in line with the terms of the contract.
“It is anticipated that when a contractor is given commencement he must have access to the land. Every delay means that he won’t work and when he doesn’t work, the contract requires that he charges us,” Ms Kagina said.
The Shs 224 billion project, undertaken by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) involves the construction of flyovers at Clock Tower, and at Kitgum House as one of the initiatives to decongest the city of traffic. The project will also cover widening of Nsambya and Mukwano roads and improvements of interfacing roads and junctions. Preliminary works on the Shs224b project started early last month, and is expected to end in 36 months.
The committee chaired by Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa wondered whether prior to the signing of the contract, this was not envisaged, to the extent that the project commenced before actual acquisition of land.
She said that a number of projects are usually delayed by failure to acquire land for works to commence, adding that Unra had to reallocate money to pay arrears and liabilities. She noted that there are high chances for the country to lose money since some of the land required for this project has not yet been acquired, further delaying the project.
“The contract is running, we have at the moment given the contractor land to start but we must in the shortest time possible acquire more land to give him, so he has not charged [fine] us yet,” she added
Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda questioned why the government enters into such contracts which expose it to exorbitant liability costs. Ssemujju wondered how a government entity signs an agreement before sorting out land issues.
In her response, Kagina stated that the anticipation is that the issues shall be resolved in time. She added that where conflicts take long, they request to deposit money with the court and the parties involved allow them to proceed. The committee said that it would hold a separate meeting with UNRA to discuss this issue.
The discussion came after the MPs found that there was unlawful expenditure by UNRA amounting to Shs150b, in the financial year of 2015/16. Ms Kagina explained that the internal reallocation expenditure was made to save government from huge losses, despite being a direct breach on the law.
