Parliament has passed the Shs72.130 Trillion national budget for the Financial Year 2024/25.
The government on Thursday revised its budget from Shs58.34Trn to Shs72.12Trn, hours before Parliament was expected to pass it.
Of the Shs14.050Trn increment, Shs30.95Bn will be payment of emoluments of cultural leaders, while Shs25Bn will go towards capitalization of Vision Group which is currently experiencing financial distress, prompting the company to layoff several workers and halt operations of some of its subsidiaries like Urban TV.
The payment of Uganda’s public debt commands the lion’s share accounting for over 34.017Trn will go towards payment of Uganda’s public debt, while the Mineral Development sector is the least funded at just Shs41.6Bn.
Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for Finance, indicated that the revisions to the budget had been authorized by President Museveni, with the documents indicating the recurrent expenditure has increased to Shs13.502Trn up from Shs11.486Trn, while the development budget is also expected to increase from Shs13.722Trn to Shs15.585Trn.
Kampala pothole exhibition yields results
Following the Kampala Pothole Exhibition, the government has now earmarked Shs592.08bn to address flooding, traffic congestion, poor road infrastructure, un-signalized junctions, provision of street lighting and stormwater drainage enhancements in Kampala in the 2024/25 national budget.
Out of the Shs72.130Trn budget, the government set aside only Shs1.27Trn for the construction and upgrade of national roads and bridges, while Shs20Bn has been allocated for the rehabilitation of the 72Km Kampala-Jinja Highway, and Shs25.05bn has been allocated for the rehabilitation of Busunju-Kiboga-Hoima road.
The government also promised to rehabilitate Mityana-Mubende Road (86Km) & Mityana Town Roads (14Km), with Shs42.38bn set aside for the same, while the Atwii – Nebbi (33Km) and Upgrading of Packwach and Nebbi Town Roads have also been earmarked for rehabilitation at a cost of Shs17Bn.
Parliament further approved the Shs61.12Bn, for the reconstruction of Matugga-Semutto-Kapeeka (41km) and similar works are expected to be undertaken on the District, Urban and Community access roads (DUCAR) under the Ministry of Works and Transport, with Shs142.3Bn having been set aside for these works.
The government further earmarked Shs2.221Trn for the commencement of the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the funds will go towards the acquisition of land worth 260 acres in the districts (Tororo -Mayuge), while the funds will also cater for updating the feasibility studies for western and eastern routes and undertaking Environment, Social-economic Impact Assessments.
