Uganda and the World Bank have agreed to accelerate implementation of a US$4.6 billion development portfolio spanning 18 operations, as the government moves to address funding and management bottlenecks slowing project delivery.
The commitment was made at the Uganda–World Bank Country Portfolio Performance Review at the Sheraton Hotel, which assessed implementation, identified delivery constraints and set time-bound actions to convert development financing into tangible results.
Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, Dr Ramathan Ggoobi, said Government is undertaking a deeper assessment to distinguish delays caused by fiscal constraints from those linked to project management, including procurement, design, land acquisition, counterpart funding, approvals and contract management.
“We are going to get quantified answers that separate the fiscal constraint from the management constraint,” he said.
Ggoobi identified committing projects before they are ready for implementation as a major source of delays. Some projects begin physical works only in their third year, he said, leaving insufficient time to complete planned activities and increasing the risk of extensions, incomplete works and additional costs to Government.
Government has strengthened project gatekeeping to ensure projects meet Public Investment Management System requirements before negotiations, while implementation-readiness conditions must be met before financing agreements are signed.
These include approved procurement plans, completed environmental and social safeguards and acquisition of the necessary rights-of-way.
Ggoobi also cited electronic government procurement as a key reform to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability. All Programme-for-Results operations are required to use the system, with Government continuing discussions with the World Bank to bring other projects on board.
With nine projects due to close in 2027 and 2028, Ggoobi called for faster implementation and timely decisions on projects unlikely to be completed within the remaining period. Such projects should be considered for restructuring, scaling down or cancellation, he said, while extensions should be limited to essential ongoing contractual obligations.
The review is expected to produce a clear improvement plan for each project, setting out the required action, responsible institution, financing implications and implementation timeline. Persistently underperforming projects could face restructuring or termination.
For the World Bank, the partnership with Uganda has continued to expand. Qimiao Fan, World Bank Division Director for Uganda, Kenya, Somalia and Rwanda, said the Bank had added almost US$2 billion in new financial commitments to Uganda over the past two years.
He said Uganda’s portfolio was among the largest International Development Association portfolios in Africa and the second largest in his unit. About US$3.1 billion, equivalent to roughly 5% of Uganda’s GDP, remains available for disbursement.
Fan described the undisbursed financing as a significant opportunity to accelerate development, with the portfolio aligned to Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, the National Development Plan and the World Bank’s FY2026–FY2035 Country Partnership Framework.
The framework prioritises stronger governance, human capital, connectivity, private-sector productivity and the creation of more and better jobs.
Providing an implementation update, World Bank Senior Operations Officer Tonderai Fadzai Mukonoweshuro said six operations approved in FY2025/26 had added nearly US$2 billion to the portfolio but had barely begun disbursing.