The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) hosted a multi-stakeholder forum on Friday 28th March at the in Kampala. The purpose of the event was to engage with the various stakeholder groups and present CoST Uganda’s preliminary implementation plan.

The Minister of Works and Transport Hon Abraham Byandala opened the event with a strong statement of support, “We believe that CoST will lead to better quality roads and improve value for public money. In addition to delivering better outcomes for citizens and communities in Uganda, CoST will deliver benefits to the government and private sector.”

10 road projects have been identified for early stage participation in the CoST Uganda programme, with the intention of scaling up the programme to include more projects and also other government agencies. The Minister said “The government of Uganda fully supports the implementation of CoST, not only in UNRA but across all public infrastructure agencies in Uganda”.

The event was attended by representatives from the public and private sectors, civil society organisations and donor institutions, including the Ministry of Works, Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority, UNRA, Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Uganda Contracts Monitoring Coalition, Uganda Institute of Professional Engineers, Adam Smith International, African Development Bank and the World Bank. In addition, the event was also attended by representatives from the CoST International Secretariat, 13 regional representatives from CoST Africa countries and 1 representative from Afghanistan.

John Hawkins from the CoST International Secretariat said, “CoST is part of a global transparency movement that aims to reduce mismanagement and corruption in public construction. We welcome UNRA to the cost family and look forward to supporting their programme.”