UNRA orders contractor on Muyembe-Nakapiripirit road to speed up the work or lose contract

The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has instructed the firm contracted to upgrade the Muyembe-Nakapiripirit road to speed up the work lest their contract will be terminated.

This follows reports in delays in achieving some of the project's objective.

UNRA awarded the civil works contract for upgrading the 92 km road to a Turkish Co., Polat Yol Yapi Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S Hasanpasa Mah Uzuncayir Yolu, on 7th November 2019, at a contract price of Shs 399 billion.

The firm was supposed to commence work on March 30, 2020.

However as of July 2021, UNRA's supervision team discovered that only 3% of physical works had been done.

"Following the notice to correct, UNRA’s project management team held a meeting with the contractor on 16 March 2021. Arising out of the meeting, the contractor, who attributed their slow progress on the restrictions caused by the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19 pandemic, was instructed to prepare a Recovery Action Plan with clear actions and timelines on how they intend to recover the lost time. The Recovery Action Plan was submitted on 15 April 2021," UNRA noted in a statement.

UNRA said that they have received several concerns about the progress of the project which forced the roads authority to hold a meeting with the contractor and other stakeholders on August 17.

"Among other resolutions, the meeting resolved UNRA would ensure that the contractor adheres to the agreed upon Recovery Action Plan, that would seek to recover the lost time on the project;  the contractor was informed of UNRA’s intention to invoke termination clauses of the contract, should they continue to default on their commitments in the Recovery Action Plan and UNRA committed to streamline their relationship with the new leadership in the region, sharing information and updates on the project since a number of leaders who had been engaged prior to project commencement have since left office," noted the statement.