Dr. Eng. Andrew Naimanye, Executive Director of Uganda Road Fund has been elected Vice president of the African Road Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) for the period 2023 to 2025.
This was during the 20th Annual General Assembly held on 5th April in Maputo, Mozambique. The general assembly was opened by H.E. Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique.
ARMFA with its permanent headquarters in Nairobi, is the governing body of the Road Funds in 36 countries in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA); overseeing the financing of the maintenance and rehabilitation of about 3million Kilometres of roads in SSA.
He has handed over his East Africa role to the Executive Director of Kenya Road Fund; Mr. Rashid Muhammad.
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Dr. Naimanye is a UK Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers; and holds a Ph.D. in Transport Economics, Masters’ Degree in Transport Planning, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering; all obtained from the University of Leeds in the UK.
The election to the Road Funds governing body at continental level further highlights Uganda’s commitment to prioritization of road maintenance financing and will benefit the country in knowledge sharing and adoption of best practices.
About URF
URF was established by an Act of Parliament in 2008 to operate as a 2G (Second Generation) Fund with the objective of financing routine and periodic maintenance of public roads in Uganda from mainly reserved road user charges. Within the East African Region, Uganda was the last country to launch a second-generation road fund. The Fund became operational in 2010.
The Fund has a duty to finance the implementation of the Annual Road Maintenance Programmes (ARMP) that are carried out by the Uganda National Roads Authority(UNRA), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the other designated agencies responsible for District, Urban and Community Access Roads.
By aspiring to ensure a stable, adequate and timely flow of funds to agencies, the URF provides the opportunity for the implementing agencies to plan for efficiency and effective delivery of maintenance on their respective categories of roads. The anticipated gains due to such stable and predictable financing, together with effective monitoring of fund use, will bring improvements to the condition of roads; reduce road maintenance costs; encourage a vibrant local construction industry; reduce road maintenance backlog and eventually reduce total transport costs, with the consequent gains to the national economy.
