The Auditor General’s report of 2017 has revealed that government will spend more money for the implementation of the Standard Gauge Railway due to the delays in compensation to Project Affected Persons (PAP).
The report issued by the Attorney General, John Muwanga reveals that the Government of Uganda is undertaking its obligations to fulfill its commitments though at a slow pace.
Government of Uganda plans to undertake construction of standard Gauge Railway at an estimated development cost of USD. 12.8Bn. However, the cost might increase due to delays in compensation of PAP.
It has been observed that there have been delays in carrying out disclosure after securing approvals of the land assessment reports from CGV and effecting payments to the beneficiaries and this has affected the rate at which compensations is being made thus affecting provision of right of way for the construction of the SGR.
“The delays were attributed to delayed compensation: Out of 3,481 Project Affected Persons planned to be compensated in 5 districts, only 2,053 PAPs had been compensated at the time of audit constituting 59% with 41% outstanding.”
The report also reveals that due to delayed valuation of PAPs in 4 districts, the process of compensating them could not start.
There were delays in acquiring Right of Way (ROW) for PAPs that had been fully paid up. Only 60km in Tororo and Butaleja districts had been demarcated considering that 59% PAPs in the districts had been compensated already.
The Auditor General observed that the slow progress of the project increases costs as PAP’s valuations tend to increase with each passing year.
Further, harmonization of implementation with partner regional states may not be achieved as it was noted that the partners were ahead of schedule, which may affect service delivery.
Government should ensure that the land acquisition process is expedited so as to enhance progress of the project in line with the regional partners.