West Nile Urban Roads Paralysed by Equipment Shortages and Delayed Funding

Urban local governments across the West Nile sub-region are facing severe paralysis in their road maintenance projects due to a critical shortage of specialized construction machinery and delayed financial releases from the central government. Leaders in Arua City, Koboko Municipality, and Nebbi Municipality report that missing essential equipment like excavators, motor graders, and rollers leaves them heavily reliant on parent districts or expensive private contractors.

In Nebbi Municipality, Mayor Jackline Opara explained that borrowing equipment from the district remains the only affordable alternative to high private hiring costs, though it comes with immense pressure. Because funds are disbursed simultaneously to both districts and municipalities, local authorities face strict time limits to use shared machinery, often forcing crews to work punishing 12-hour shifts. Opara also noted that delayed treasury disbursements cause unspent funds to be returned, unfairly exposing engineers to audits and arrests over administrative bottlenecks.

Arua City Mayor Lawrence Alionzi echoed similar frustrations, pointing out that although secondary cities were carved out of districts, the parent districts retained ownership of all road assets. While Arua City managed to purchase a single motor grader using local revenues, the machine is vastly overwhelmed, struggling to maintain a road network exceeding 500 kilometers across a 401-square-kilometer area.

Meanwhile, in Koboko Municipality, leaders revealed that unspent funds had to be returned last financial year after failing to execute road works within rigid quarterly guidelines using a single aging road unit. To resolve the ongoing crisis, regional leaders are calling on the Ministry of Works and Transport to directly supply municipalities with complete sets of road machinery and establish decentralized regional maintenance centers. Read more details on the Daily Monitor.