On February 13, 2017 the Red Pepper published a story about the new Jinja Nile bridge, which is under construction by Zenitaka Corporation, the contractors.
Unfortunately, it was not a rosy story. According to the article, the company has asked the government to pay an extra $25 million (Shs 90 billion), in addition to the original $125 million (Shs 445 billion) that was agreed upon.
The government of Japan was to pay 80 per cent of the original total cost, which is equivalent to $100 million, while the government of Uganda was to contribute 20 per cent or $25 million in the original deal. With the additional $25 million, the project will cost $150 million (Shs 534 billion), if my mathematics teacher deserved a pay.
At that cost, the new Jinja Nile bridge, which is only 525 meters long, could go down in the books of history as the most expensive bridge of its length in Africa.
When I read about the longest bridges in Africa, I was amazed by the cost of the bridges I thought were very expensive. I was surprised to find out that a 400km-road with Katima Mulilo bridge, which is approximately 900 meters, crossing over River Zambezi cost the government of Namibia $76.4 million (Shs 272 billion).
I was also shocked that it cost the government of Egypt only $196 million (Shs 698 billion) to construct the 3.9km Suez Canal bridge which links Egypt to Eurasia.
There are a couple of other good examples that can be compared to our new bridge. Surprisingly, the discussion on the cost of our bridge has been left to the media and yet, as Ugandans, we are all at loss.
It is absurd that the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) which is chaired by Abdu Katuntu, who often passes the bridge on his way to his constituency in Bugweri, hasn’t paid attention to this matter.
Katuntu’s committee is always fast to raise eyebrows on the cost of expensive road infrastructure projects. But there has been silence on this one just like there has been on the cost of the Northern bypass which is being constructed at $2.9 million (Shs 10.3 billion) per lane, per kilometer.
Ideally, the construction cost of the Northern bypass should be much lower than that compared to roads of similar sizes and quality. We have been told that the average cost of constructing a standard road per kilometer, per lane is $2 million. It leaves many questions unanswered for the Ugandan road to cost close to $3 million per lane per kilometre.
One wonders why Cosase has kept silent on the cost of these very expensive projects. Ugandans have a right to know what they are going to pay for. They also have a right to know how long the project is going to take.
According to the documents and material I have come across, the Jinja bridge is supposed to be complete by April 2018. That is approximately one year and two months from now. With the contractor threatening to halt operations because of inadequate funds, this is likely to push completion by many months, if not years ahead.
Can Cosase find out (if they don’t know) what the details of the agreement were? As a responsible citizen, I feel it is going to be very painful for Ugandans living today and in future to pay for a loan we would have avoided or sought to manage better. I believe, at the moment, there is still a lot of room for us as a country to review the proposed cost of such projects to make things right.
To Cosase, just like you did for other project, there is need to find out what’s happening to this project and make recommendations that will benefit Ugandans.
egessahd@gmail.com
The author is a political scientist and researcher.