Architectural design of Hoima International Airport
The Ministry of Works and Transport has blamed the slow progress on the construction works of Hoima (Kabaale) International Airport on the failure by the Ministry of Finance to avail over Shs319bn for the construction project.
This was disclosed by Fred Byamukama, State Minister for Works during yesterday’s plenary sitting, while briefing Parliament on the progress of the construction works at Hoima International Airport.
Minister Byamukama told Parliament that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact to the progress of the project, disrupting the procurement plan and supply chain of inputs, personnel and equipment.
He warned that if the trend continues, it is likely to affect the completion date and force Ugandans to dig deeper in their pockets to find the extra budget.
He added that the COVID-19 impact on the project is further worsened by funding shortage.
He said inadequate funds to complete the construction works and also pay for supervision services of about EUR 77million equivalent to Shs319.471bn remains a challenge.
“The Ministry is having discussions with Ministry of Finance on this matter,” said Byamukama.
According to the Ministry of Works, the land allocated for the construction of Hoima International Airport is inadequate because the land that was allocated for the construction of the Airport is 3.19Km2 and this did not consider future expansion requirements for an international Airport.
“The total land requirement is 5.14 km2 and additional land is required for construction of the Passenger Terminal Building, expansion of the Cargo Terminal Building, Parallel Taxiway, Apron for general aviation aircraft, Cold storage etc. The Ministry has requested Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) to allocate additional land to the Airport project and a response is awaited,” said Byabakama.
The construction of Hoima International Airport is being implemented under a loan facility from the UK Export
Finance (UKEF) and only covers the first phase which involves the construction of essential facilities to handle international cargo flights to facilitate construction of the oil refinery and support the development of oil and gas industry.
The construction works are being carried out by SBC (UGANDA) Ltd at a cost of Euro 264,077,144.48 equivalent to Shs1.095Trn
The Contract for the works was signed on 5th May 2016 and it wasn’t until 18th April 2018 that works commenced, with Government first indicated that the works would be completed in June 2022.
However, the overall physical progress of works by the end of July,2021 was about 60.02 %.
