On behalf of the Old Boys of St Mary's College Kisubi, I wish to congratulate Engineer Peter Ssebanakitta on being Re - appointed Executive Director Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). We are happy to see him once more in that position. We want to pray for him because the challenges are many, yet those who are waiting to see his Authority delivering are many, hence there are no short - cuts but to meet the challenges. As a fellow Lourdalian at SMACK, I must say, we are proud of his achievements, and wish to request that Mr. Ssebanakitta endeavours to find more time to add to the efforts of SMACK Old Boys. May be he can give a lecture on challenges of Executives in Uganda, and many Old Boys would gladly embrace the opportunity. The young ones at school may also benefit from his advice on how to be relevant when they get to the world of work.
I take this opportunity to wish Engineer Ssebanakitta the best while delivering remains the key word.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka.
Ssebanakitta
re-appointed UNRA boss
Richard
Wanambwa
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
Works and
Transport Minister Abraham Byandala has reappointed Eng. Peter Ssebanakitta as
Executive Director of Uganda National Roads Authority.
According to an
October 31, 2012 letter, Eng. Byandala wrote notifying Eng. Ssebanakitta of the
renewal of his five-year contract under similar terms and conditions as the
previous one.
“I am pleased
to inform you that you are re-appointed as the Executive Director of the Uganda
National Roads Authority (UNRA) in accordance to Section 20 (1) of the UNRA
Act,” Eng. Byandala wrote.
The letter
which was copied to the Permanent Secretary and Eng. Byandala’s junior
ministers says the appointment would run until October 2017. Eng. Ssebanakitta,
on Friday, acknowledged receiving the letter and said he was ready to continue
with his work. He promised increased vigilance and supervision on both existing
and yet to be constructed roads in the country.
“It is true I
have received the letter redeploying me in the same position and I must thank
the ministry and UNRA board for entrusting me with this responsibility once
again,” Eng. Ssebanakitta said.
rwanambwa@ug.nationmedia.com
Engineer Ssebanakitta joined
the Ministry of Works and Transport in 1981 as a pupil engineer, Ssebanakitta
worked in various positions rising to the rank of Commissioner for Roads before
joining the Road Agency Formation Unit as the Maintenance Division Manager. He
later became RAFU's Engineering Division Manager before he was appointed as the
Executive Director of UNRA in July 2008.
His 27 years of experience span across
road maintenance management, road development projects management and planning
in Uganda's road sector. During his five year tenure as Commissioner for Roads
in the Ministry for Works and Transport, Eng. Ssebanakitta was responsible for
the management of development and road maintenance activities on the national
roads as well as developing and coordinating policy for the district, urban and
community access road network countrywide. And as RAFU's Engineering Division
Manager, he was responsible for the management of all upgrading and
rehabilitation projects on the national roads network. In an earlier interview,
he claimed to 'have intimate knowledge of both the national roads network and
the road industry in the country'.
At
a press briefing held at UNRA offices on October 1st 2008, Eng. Ssebanakitta
revealed that his organisation was carrying out a programme dabbed 'Operation
No Pot Holes'. "UNRA is currently on a countrywide programme to seal all
potholes and edge failures on all national bitumen (tarmac) roads," he
said.
In
addition to the repair of existing roads, UNRA is also undertaking a
comprehensive road upgrading programme. This entails upgrading of roads from
murram to tarmac, reducing corners and slopes, increasing width and redesigning
of humps.
Eng.
Peter Ssebanakitta brings to UNRA a wealth of experience and knowledge of the
road sector. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from Makerere
University and a Masters of Science in Highway Engineering from the University
of Birmingham in UK. Joining the Ministry of Works and Transport in 1981 as a
pupil engineer, Ssebanakitta worked in various positions rising to the rank of
Commissioner for Roads before joining the Road Agency Formation Unit as the
Maintenance Division Manager. He later became RAFU's Engineering Division
Manager before he was appointed as the Executive Director of UNRA in July 2008.
His
27 years of experience span across road maintenance management, road
development projects management and planning in Uganda's road sector. During
his five year tenure as Commissioner for Roads in the Ministry for Works and
Transport, Eng. Ssebanakitta was responsible for the management of development
and road maintenance activities on the national roads as well as developing and
coordinating policy for the district, urban and community access road network
countrywide. And as RAFU's Engineering Division Manager, he was responsible for
the management of all upgrading and rehabilitation projects on the national
roads network. In an earlier interview, he claimed to 'have intimate knowledge
of both the national roads network and the road industry in the country'.
ABOUT THE NEW SCHEME
By Joel Ogwang
THE Government is to engage private
contractors to help raise $1b (sh2.5trillion) to develop over 1, 900km of roads
geared at stimulating tourism, agriculture and oil and gas sectors across the
country.
Under the new contractor-facilitated
financing scheme, contractors will express interest in road projects and source
for their funding from any financial institutions.
The scheme seeks to fast-track
development of 20 out of the 44 priority roads to be worked on this 2012/13
financial year.
The roads will be upgraded from gravel
to tarmac.
Construction is expected to be
completed within a period of three to five years from commencement. Their
development will last between six to 36 months.
A Design-Bid-Build project delivery
strategy will be adopted for road projects for which designs are ready whereas
the Design and Build approach will be adopted for road projects where designs
are not yet ready.
How it will work
The Government will enter a memorandum
of understanding with shortlisted firms to confirm their relationship in
respect of financing and implementation of the works.
It will also enter into a conditional
commercial contract with the winning tenderer conditioned on loan agreements
being signed between the state and the winning contractors’ financiers.
The contractors will, in turn,
negotiate with the finance ministry on interest rates and repayment periods,
says Dan Alinange, the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) publicist.
"It is a new thing we are
trying-out. Under this arrangement, the contractor will price the road per
kilometre and we (UNRA) will value the bid based on the cost of the road,"
he says.
"The contractor and financier who
offer the best deal will win the tender and go ahead with the road works. The
finance ministry will pay the financier over time".
The shortlisting of firms for the works
will be conducted in accordance with the public procurement procedures
contained in the Government of Uganda’s Public Procurement and Disposal of
Public Assets Act, 2003 and will be open to all bidders from eligible source
countries.
To close corruption loopholes, the
process up to the signature of the loan agreement will involve negotiation,
cabinet approval, parliamentary approval and Attorney General’s legal opinion
of the loan.
This will be followed by signature of
the loan agreement between Government and the contractors’ financiers.
The project works will then commence
immediately after the loan becomes effective following signature of the loan
agreement and commercial agreement.
How UNRA was doing the bidding In the
past, UNRA was taking unsolicited offers from contractors, notes Eng. Peter
Ssebanakitta, the executive director.
"Now we are opting for a
structured way of taking proposals," he says. Proposals calling for
expression of interests have been advertised in the local media. However, no
contractors have submitted their proposals.
"But we will start receiving them
(proposals) by October. Contracts will most likely be given out early
2013."
Roads financing in
Uganda
Traditionally, Uganda has relied on
direct budgetary allocations to fund infrastructure developments but scanty tax
revenues have meant the country’s road network remains poor, stifling growth in
east Africa’s third largest economy.
For example, Uganda has only 3, 500km
out of a total 20, 000kms of national roads under tarmac/ paved, while the rest
are in bad to poor condition.
District, urban and community access
roads are not any better.
However, the continued prioritisation
of the roads and transport sectors, with over sh1trillion injected in the
sector in the last three national budgets, has raised public appetite for
better roads, yet it is not wholly quenched with quality roads.
One reason roads experts advance for
this predicament, is the continued funding of road works off the consolidated
fund, a norm adopted from the colonial times.
Experts argue that state funding of
roads does not ensure reliability, timeliness and adequacy at a time Uganda
hopes to transit from being a third-world/ low developed country into a
medium-income status.
They also note that even when monies
are ring-fenced for roads, they are susceptible to budgetary cuts due to the
ever-changing government priorities and competing demands from other sectors.
“With funding of roads from the
consolidated fund, we can’t get better roads easily,” says
Eng. Dr. Michael Odongo, the Uganda
Road Fund (URF) executive director. “Countries are moving away from this source
of funding because it has many challenges.”
The low road sector funding, too,
threatens the realisation of the five-year National Development Plan as bad
roads increase the cost of doing business, limits marketing and mobility of
factors of production and, ultimately, infringes on the gross domestic product.
Economists assert that quality roads
would leverage Uganda’s stagnated annual economic growth threshold of 6% over
the past decade.
“This (Uganda) is a small economy and
if we’re to wait for tax revenues to come in so that we develop these roads, it
may take time,” says Alinange.
Why the new scheme
The contractor-facilitated financing
schemewill come as sweet music to financial institutions, contractors and the
Government, with its after-effects trickling down to road users who are starved
of quality roads.
Ssebanakitta argues that with a poor
investment climate in Europe beckoning, Africa is turning out to be a
favourable investment hub for international investors, adding that one such
sector that will benefit was roads and transport.
“In the past, we were getting ad hoc
proposals of contractors who want to use their little money which didn’t
measure up to the size of work they had. This meant projects lasted longer than
the agreed time,” says Ssebanakitta.
“Now they have Public-Private
Partnerships (PPP) where they can get money and we pay over time or through
road tolls. PPP leverages innovation.”
The off-budget financing of roads will
ensure road projects are kick-started and concluded within the contractual
period, with the Government paying the financiers later-on.
Right now, there is a limitation to
what extent the finance ministry can finance the roads budget against other
sectors.
UNRA estimates that a minimum of $1b
will be raised under the scheme.
“We have about 1,918km of roads which
need to be built to spur development around the country,”says Alinange. “We
think this is a step in the right direction.”
While the new scheme, as appealing as it
is, will be open to all contractors, winning the lofty tenders won’t come
cheap, says Ssebanakitta.
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