Infrastructure investments won’t deliver the desired sustainable economic growth if the poor culture of disclosing information pertaining the processes involved in the execution of the projects persists, experts have said.
Analysts say this has hampered effective monitoring of infrastructure contracts especially in gathering project and contract information to foster transparency and accountability.
The Minister of Works and Transport, General Katumba Wamala in a message to the new 4 the Assurance process by CoST said that transparency in infrastructure projects “adds value and public gains confidence.”
“It’s good to have an independent organisation checking the flaws,” he said.
The Economic Outlook 2019 by Price Water House Coopers Uganda (pwc) indicates that though there is a surge in investing in public infrastructure by government, effective monitoring of public projects needs to be tightened to avoid spending resources on inadequately designed, underfunded, or long delayed and poorly implemented infrastructural projects.
“There is a risk that the current surge by government in investing in public infrastructure. Public resources are spent on inadequately designed or long delayed implementation. We recommend carefully monitoring, completion and maintenance of current projects and balancing priorities,” the report states.
In an interview with the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Maria Kasaija, said that the government is optimistic that the projects invested in will see Uganda post a positive economic growth by 6.2% in FY 2019/20 and 6.5% in 2020/21.
He also added that if public spending is not properly executed as planned, the economic growth may not be realized.
The Minister adds that in the next 2 years, there is need to massively invest in infrastructural development related to oil and gas sector and the related increase in foreign direct investment that he asserts have potential to drive the economy.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
