KAMPALA: Parliament’s committee on physical infrastructure has summoned former Works and Transport Minister Gen Katumba Wamala and former Executive Director of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) Ms.Allen Kagina to answer to glitches unearthed in the tolling system deployed to manage financial collections on the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway (KEE).
The decision came after legislators conducted an on-site inspection on the toll gates along the Expressway and discovered the system deployed to handle collections is marred with a string of pitfalls believed to be causing financial losses.
The system loopholes are also believed to be conduits for financial losses.
In an interview with the Daily Monitor minutes after the on-site inspection at the Kajjansi toll gates, the committee led by the Mbarara City South legislator Mwine Mpaka discovered that the system used at the toll gates was manually operated and therefore vulnerable to abuse.
“This is under investigation and we are concluding but we can’t give so much information but we have observed very many flaws with the system. We are more or less in the hands of the young people who sit in the booth,” Mr Mpaka told this publication during the inspection.
He added “We have come to see hands-on, how they handle money and the transactions. We have looked at several issues and we have discussed with the ministry and where we didn’t receive satisfactory answers, we are inviting them again for the last meeting on Thursday [tomorrow].”
The committee intends to probe the manner in which the Ministry of works and Transport together with the then UNRA okayed private firm Pinnacle Security Limited to handle collections along the 25Km road.
“We have invited everyone who was involved in the construction of this road and procurement of the contractor, including the former E.D Allen Kagina. We have also invited the former [Works] Minister Gen Katumba Wamala who renewed this contract and every other person who was involved at whichever stage to come and give us an explanation,” Mr Mpaka said.
Spot checks conducted by legislators on the KEE on Tuesday showed that the system regularly fails to classify cars before confirming the exact fees to be charged on a given vehicle. In a rather disturbing example, the legislators discovered that a classification that attracts a higher toll charge could drive through premising on charges payable by a saloon car which is a lesser classification.
“The discrepancy is in the classification. There is usually a misclassification between class two and class three. That misclassification is usually reconciled through the viewing of the video footage by a staff member who does it every other day.”
This therefore causes financial losses, which are among the matters being queried by lawmakers.
In another discovery, it emerged that the system occasionally freezes and stalls, something that eventually allows cars to drive through without the required pay. This was confirmed by Mr Francis Katamba the project manager under the Pinnacle Security Limited, a private firm contracted to handle toll collections on the expressway.
“Yes, that is a scenario that we have been experiencing. In some situations where one vehicle passes, they time and pass before the barrier comes down [block] the next car. These incidents have happened and we have got culprits,” Mr Katamba conceded but was quick to allege that “many of them do this without knowing and they go back and pay cash.”
He added “Many of these scenarios are there. Where it has happened and we have to pay for it [the missing cash] as the contractor, we pay that money.”
When further pressed to extract and furnish the committee with the losses incurred due to such aforementioned glitches, Mr Katamba instead said “there are no financial losses from that tolling [system]. This I can assure you.”
About KEE
The Kampala-Entebbe Expressway (KEE) is a four-lane dual carriageway that links Kampala to the country’s international gateway, Entebbe.
It is a 25km stretch that was in constructed to reduce time between Kampala and Entebbe from about two hours to about 45 minutes as an alternative route premised on a cost. Basing a five year-long contract, the toll system was in late May 2021 handed over to Egis Road Operation to operate and manage toll collections on the KEE.
Consequently, following the expiration of a five-year contract, the government through the then Ministry of Works Minister Gen Katumba Wamala transferred the KEE project to Pinnacle Security Limited.
BY ARTHUR ARNOLD WADERO
& SYLVIA NAMAGEMBE
