The street lighting project for the 13 municipalities was below standard, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Local Government Accounts has observed.
The committee chaired by Bardege-Layibi Division county in Gulu City, Martin Ojara Mapenduzi discovered this while reviewing the project. The Committee was interfacing with the project officials from the ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development led by the Acting Director Physical planning, Vincent Byendamaire .
The programme which seeks to improve urban service delivery was conceived on March 18, 2013 and currently encompasses 14 Municipal Councils including Arua, Mbarara, Gulu and Soroti which were recently elevated to city status.
The committee noted that when they inspected the solar lighting in the municipalities which was installed two years ago, 60% wasn’t working.
He said that the quality of the solar lighting installed in municipalities like Soroti ,Gulu is wanting and the people who procured it could have connived with the suppliers.
The committee members observed that there was inflated figure on the road unit costing for roads constructed by USMID compared to UNRA roads unit cost.
However, Byendamaire rejected the assertion that they inflated the road unit cost, saying that there was much extra works on pavements, Bicycle lanes ,water and power cable passages.
He said some roads have two to four lanes,others are constructed on rocks and hilly places and the standard of roads in urban centres vary from that of UNRA roads
The committee tasked the USMID officials to avail to the committee the expenditure so far done on the project worth US$360 million since 2013.
