Factors affecting the implementation of road infrastructure projects in local governments: Case of Kakira town council

Abstract

This study researched about the factors that affect the implementation of road infrastructure projects in local governments in Uganda taking a case study of Kakira Town Council. There have been concerns over Uganda’s road infrastructure, often described as poor and dilapidated in most parts of the country, making a number of places inaccessible. With implementation of decentralization system, local governments are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that roads in local areas are maintained and rehabilitated. This was a descriptive research design, based on a case study, using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A semi-structured questionnaire and interview guide were used as main data instruments and data was analyzed using SPSS and thematic contents analysis. The findings revealed that organisational resources heavily affect road infrastructure implementation negatively. These include; lack of finances, low staffing levels, poor motivation of staff and lack of road equipment are the organization resources that are lacking in local governments negatively affecting the implementation of road infrastructure projects. Findings also show that lack of duly appointed project manager, lack of project management teams, lack of community involvement and lack of financial and expertise of contractors are the factors in project management that are negatively affecting the implementation of road infrastructure projects. The findings further reveal that lack of monitoring and supervision from ministry of works and transport, negative political influence on road projects, and long bureaucracies of procurement are some of the governmental policies are negatively affecting the effective implementation of infrastructure road projects in local governments. The study concludes that to foster road infrastructure projects in local governments, there is need for a deliberate central government effort to enhance organizational resources, project management and policies formulation and implementation. It was recommended that best practices from other countries be copied and improved to suite the local government in order to improve implementation of infrastructure road projects in local governments.