Dr Eng Andrew Naimanye, Executive Director of Uganda Road Fund(URF) has been elected to head the Eastern African Roads Maintainace Funds Association(ARMFA).
This was during the members’ meeting held on February 20, 2023 in Dare Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania.
ARMFA is the governing body of the road funds in 25 countries in Africa. The EAST Africa region covers the road funds of Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.
The asset value of the road funds in EA region whose maintainace is funded by the road funds in the region exceeds US$ 120bn; with annual maintainace of US$ of 3bn.
De Naimanye takes over from Mr Ellud Nyyauhenga the Chief Executive of the Roads Fund of Tanzania and the tenure shall be for two years (2023 to 2025).
According to URF, the election of the road funds governing body further highlights Uganda’s commitment to prioritization of road maintainace financing and will benefit the country in knowledge sharing and adoption of best practices.
About Dr Naimanye
Dr Naimanye is a UK chartered Engineer and fellow of the institution of civil engineers; and holds a PhD. In Transport Economics, Masters’ Degree in Transport Planning, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering; all obtained from the University of Leeds. He had his high school education at Kings College Buddo.
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.
