Uganda To Hold 5th Annual Innovation Symposium

By. Our Reporter

In a bid to foster technology and innovation usage in all infrastructure projects, Uganda is slated to hold the 5^th annual innovation infrastructure symposium that will bring together the public service and private sector.

Speaking ahead of the symposium slated for 31^st October in Kampala, the Head business unit at Brain child, Walter Wafula attributes the delays in completion of huge infrastructure projects in the country to failure by contractors to use hi-tech while executing the projects.

Wafula further says, this has led to poor quality infrastructure which has translated in the country losing USD.800M as per the world bank report.

The symposium comes at a time when Uganda is launching a new survey on road user satisfaction showing that 43% of Ugandans are dissatisfied with Uganda’s road network.

The survey done by Uganda Road Fund (URF) indicates that majority Ugandans are unhappy with the narrowness of the roads, presence of potholes, inadequate road maintenance, dust and poor drainage system respectively.

The survey further establishes that other notable reasons for dissatisfaction with overall experience on Uganda’s road network include reckless driving, poor road signage and traffic congestion.

During the presentation of the survey report at Hotel Africana, the Executive Director of Uganda Road Fund Eng. Dr. Michael Odongo, says the report is a useful source of data and information for government to improve on the road user experience.

For his part, the minister of state for works Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala says, “Government will consider the views of road users and step up efforts to improve on the road network through road maintenance among others.”

Wamala adds that government is going to intensify road Safety awareness campaigns to make Ugandans appreciate their responsibility regarding road usage.

The symposium now seeks to provide solutions to the existing problems in the infrastructure development sector while using innovative ways and Hi-tech.

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