By Julius Nkunda
The Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs that has criticized the pace and level of work accomplished at the One Stop Border Point (OSBP) at Bunagana border in Kisoro district.
The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Works and Transport, back in March this year launched an OSBP at Bunagana Border in Kisoro district in a bid to reduce congestion of people and their goods, insufficient technical equipment, duplicated border procedures and non-coordination of the border agencies among others.
The project being funded by World Bank and Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project Uganda (GLTFP) is expected to be completed in 12 months however according to the Committee chairperson on Defense and Internal Affairs who also doubles as Bufumbira South Member of Parliament Alex Niyonsaba, the status of the project is embarrassing.
A project review meeting held in July this year by officials from the respective ministries revealed that works which should be at 70 percent, were only at 14 percent.
Hon. Niyonsaba who also toured the same project on the Democratic Republic of Congo side observed that their structures and status of work was simply too far ahead compared to the works on the Ugandan side.
He challenged the contractors, Techno Three Uganda Limited to double their efforts because value for money could not be seen at this point.
Hon. Niyonsaba also urged his Colleagues to table the issue before Parliament to ensure that the OSBP at Bunagana is rehabilitated and upgraded in a timely manner.
“The Bunagana border with DR Congo still looks in a sorry state and it cannot remain this way. We need to ensure that well-functioning gates are erected, a modern scan is acquired and staff housing for immigration officers is quickly looked into, Hon. Niyonsaba explained
A representative of the Contractors explained that work had stalled due to continued design changes and other bureaucratic processes that could not be overlooked.
The Kisoro district LCV Chairperson Abel Bizimana also questioned the rationale of using hundreds of Millions of Shillings to renovate the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) building which has only been in existence for two years and was still in tip top shape.
Bizimana assured the visiting committee that he would use his political clout to engage the Inspectorate of Government to ensure a thorough forensic audit is carried out in order to weed out Corruption in Government projects.
The Bunagana LCV Councilor Innocent Kwizera alongside his counterpart for Muramba Sub County Martin Hakizimana appealed to the Committee of Visiting MPs to follow up the issue of Bunagana order because it is a strategic business point that has been ignored for too long.
Discussion about this post