Factors leading to the Delayed Construction of Infrastructure Projects: A Case Study of Standard Gauge Railway Project in Uganda

Abstract

It is more than Seven years since the four East African partner states signed the Regional Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) protocol in (2014), providing ways for cooperation and critical timelines for SGR project completion.
This study was carried out to determine the factors leading to the delayed construction of major construction projects concerning the SGR development in Uganda. Documentary analysis was used in this study which looked at an overview of literature from past research and studies reported on standard gauge railways, which were available online. Policy documents, laws, regulations, and contract documents were also utilized in the study. Findings were reported as themes in this study.
Various factors leading to the delayed construction of the SGR in Uganda were studied, like utilization of traditional methods in procurement, length of feasibility studies and consequences, work scope and project design uncertainties, deficiencies in the contract documents or contract uncertainties, political interference, inadequate funding/resources, delayed compensation of Project Affected Persons (PAPs), delay in payments to contractors and consultants, high inflation and interest rates, Bureaucracy/corruption, limited technology, environmental factors such as regulations from NEMA, donor conditionalities in respect to ESIA such as International Financial Credit (IFC) conditionalities, Equator Principle, COVID 19 pandemic that set in and legal factors concerned with land acquisition, compensation, and work permits. The need to carry out market sounding for a potential financier for the project was explored arising from the Chinese being hesitant in financing the SGR as anticipated. However, this will accompany other financiers' conditionalities, which must be studied, and mitigation factors sought. What the Government of Uganda needs to do to mobilize adequate resources or allocate more resources or propose some special duty tax or else make budget cuts on some sectors of the economy to cater for the infrastructure development (construction of the SGR).