The Minister of Works and Transport, Fred Byamukama, has assured road contractors of government’s commitment to settle outstanding debts owed for the construction and rehabilitation of national roads across the country.
Byamukama made the remarks on July 8th, 2026, during a meeting with road contractors and the EnergoProjekt team handling various road projects, where he also directed firms to immediately resume work on stalled projects and ensure they are completed within the agreed contract timelines.
“All the stalled projects should be worked on and completed. Road construction should not take longer than the contract period,” the minister said.
The meeting followed a site inspection along the Bwaise–Namungoona section of the Northern Bypass and the minister warned against prolonged delays on road works, saying such setbacks continue to affect service delivery and increase project costs. He urged contractors to adhere to contractual obligations and speed up implementation once payments are made.
Byamukama also called on foreign contractors operating in Uganda to work more closely with local firms in order to build local technical capacity and transfer skills in road construction and project management.
Speaking about the condition of the Mityana–Mubende Road, the minister said the government could have spent less money on the project if engineers had raised concerns about the road’s deteriorating state earlier.
“Timely reporting would have enabled government to rehabilitate the road before the damage worsened, instead of undertaking a more expensive full reconstruction.” Byamukama added.
He previously met with the same contractors on June 12th, 2026, during an inspection of the Mityana-Mubende Road, where he gave them a final ultimatum to complete the project by March 2027 or face contract termination.
Byamukama’s remarks come amid concerns over delayed road projects and mounting arrears owed to contractors, which have in some cases slowed or halted works on key national road infrastructure.
The meeting with the contractors, forms part of wider efforts by the Works ministry to address implementation bottlenecks in the roads sector, enforce project timelines and ensure that public infrastructure projects are completed on schedule.
