Construction work on the four-lane Kampala-Entebbe Expressway. If the Kampala-Jinja expressway goes ahead and construction starts June 2020 as planned, the 95-kilometre road could break a record as the most expensive road of its length and size in the world. FILE PHOTO | NMG
President Yoweri Museveni’s letter directing the Minister of Works and Transport to award the Kampala-Jinja expressway contract to a Chinese company that had lobbied him for the job has exposed how Uganda handles mega infrastructure projects, a fact that has put the country on collision course with the World Bank, with the latter citing corruption and the failure to use established procurement systems.
In the letter, seen by The EastAfrican, the president directs the minister to stop an on-going procurement process in a move he calls ‘’controlling Uganda’s growing external debt’’ but which technocrats in his government say is likely to deny the country an opportunity to lower the cost of the project.
