Uganda loses close to US $300 million annually due to poor Infrastructure Development and management, the World Bank country director, Christina Malmberg Calvo has revealed. According to Calvo, the money which is usually borrowed for infrastructure development in the Works and Transport, Health, Environment, Water and Sanitation and Energy Sectors is poorly managed leaving the country with a huge debt burden.
Uganda's external debt stands at Shillings 25.1 trillion while the domestic debt stood at Shillings 12.8 trillion as of December 2017. The World Bank remains Uganda largest creditor. Calvo says the money lost due to poor infrastructure development and management is caused by the high political and private interests of the duty bearers.
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Calvo also revealed that Uganda recoups far less than what it invests in the Ugandan Shilling due to poor infrastructure management.
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She was speaking at the launch of the Makerere Public Infrastructure Management Consortium in Entebbe. The Makerere Public Infrastructure Management-MPIM consortium is a professional entity that brings together a network of experts in the diverse areas of public infrastructure management with an objective of promoting sustainable infrastructure management by providing professional capacity, advisory services and best practices to public and private institutions involved in infrastructure projects.
Umar Kakumba, a member in the consortium also indicated that Ugandan workers on major infrastructure development projects need more training so as to improve their capacity to deliver quality work.
