Skip to main content

Unganda investing in road maintenance and management

The Ugandan Government is working to improve the country’s infrastructure, with new links planned as well as a new project tackling asset management. Fugro is leading a team on a pioneering project to build a pavement and asset management system for the road network of Kampala in Uganda as part of this focus on infrastructure. The company is working with international asset management specialists from TRL and local Ugandan mapping and GIS specialist Aerophoto Systems Engineering on behalf of the client, Kam
October 8, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Fugro and TRL in the UK are amongst those assisting with road maintenance development in Uganda
The 1073 Ugandan Government is working to improve the country’s infrastructure, with new links planned as well as a new project tackling asset management. 6202 Fugro is leading a team on a pioneering project to build a pavement and asset management system for the road network of Kampala in Uganda as part of this focus on infrastructure. The company is working with international asset management specialists from 777 TRL and local Ugandan mapping and GIS specialist Aerophoto Systems Engineering on behalf of the client, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). Surveys to map and geo-reference the 1,700km road and surface drainage networks, to build a record of highway inventory and to report pavement condition and traffic data are included under a Contract of Roads Infrastructure Inventory & Condition Assessment that spans 14 months. The GIS referenced data collection programme includes an airborne LiDAR and photography survey, and a truck-mounted road condition and asset inventory survey.

Data will be used to populate a fully featured asset management system based on TRL’s iROADS software, which includes predictive maintenance, deterioration modelling and financial forecasting functions. The project team will also work with KCCA to compile manuals of network development, road performance indicators and survey procedures to unify standards and evaluative methods for Kampala’s roads.

The project forms a key element of the strategy of developing local capacity. The pavement management system will provide a vital tool to help highway managers to target and prioritise maintenance work, while raising overall engineering performance in key areas such as road condition and traffic flow. The specialised software and data will deliver robust evidence to support KCCA funding bids to government and external investors.

Meanwhile the US74 million Kampala-Jinja Highway is one of six highways planned for upgrades by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The new tolled highway will form part of the Trans-African Highway and replace the old route, which does not have sufficient capacity for present traffic volumes. All six of the projects were selected by the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and these are due for completion by 2020.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • East Africa’s dream of a ‘Silk Road’ in sight
    October 22, 2021
    East Africa’s dream of a ‘Silk Road’ route to boost trade and transport is now in sight
  • Innovative GIS advances from Bluesky
    July 18, 2012
    Aerial survey specialist Bluesky is funding research into the development and use of a new system to map the UK’s cities and towns at night. Bluesky has teamed up with the University of Leicester to look at solutions using new high sensitivity camera sensor technology. Mounted on survey aircraft, the new system can record the location of street lights, illuminated road signs and other night-time sources of light. This can deliver an accurate resource for asset inventories, light pollution assessment and ene
  • East Africa drives towards road tolling
    March 18, 2016
    Road tolling is increasing in East Africa as the region’s countries expand highway networks - Shem Oirere writes. The drive towards road tolling in East Africa is gaining momentum. Uganda appears to have broken ranks with its neighbours to make huge strides in achieving progress with this innovative road financing plan. Road tolling has hitherto has been held back in East Africa for lack of political goodwill and State bureaucracies. Kenyan government officials have made announcements on planned road tollin
  • Software innovations boosting construction efficiency
    February 6, 2017
    Software innovations can help road construction and asset management – Mike Woof writes New developments in construction software offer major benefits for civil engineers, contractors and maintenance firms. The latest advances will help optimise the construction process, while also allowing easier monitoring of existing assets. In terms of construction, Bentley Systems is again pushing the bar with regard to advanced software solutions. Its latest OpenRoads ConceptStation package is said to combine en