Publication: Uganda’s Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective
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Published
2012-02-01
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Date
2012-03-19
Author(s)
Ranganathan, Rupa
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Abstract
Uganda has made substantial progress on its infrastructure agenda in recent years. The early and successful ICT reform detonated a huge expansion in mobile coverage and penetration resulting in a highly competitive market. Power sector restructuring has paved the way for a rapid doubling of power generation capacity. Uganda is doing well on the water and sanitation MDGs, and has made effective use of performance contracting to improve utility performance. However, a number of important challenges remain. Despite reforms, the power sector continues to hemorrhage resources due to under-pricing and high distribution losses, while electrification rates are still very low. Providing adequate resources for road maintenance remains a challenge, and further investment is needed to increase rural connectivity and improve road safety. Addressing Uganda's infrastructure challenges will require sustained expenditure of around $1.4 billion per year over the next decade, strongly skewed towards capital expenditure. Uganda already spends approximately $1 billion per year on infrastructure, equivalent to about 11 percent of GDP. A further $0.3 billion a year is lost to inefficiencies, the bulk of which are associated with underpricing and distribution losses in the power sector. Uganda's annual infrastructure funding gap is about $0.4 billion per year, most of which is associated with irrigation as well as water and sanitation infrastructure.
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“Ranganathan, Rupa; Foster, Vivien. 2012. Uganda’s Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective. Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5963. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3248 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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