Assessing road tolling as a way of financing road maintenance budget in Kampala.
Abstract
A good transport system is essential for the socio-economic development and consolidation of
any country. The road infrastructure is a public asset which requires massive investment and
maintenance to preserve the road in its originally constructed condition. However, the road
maintenance cost is high and becoming a threat to the country’s plan therefore providing
sufficient resources for optimal maintenance is still a challenge. The road infrastructure
development budget increased from UGX 2 trillion in FY 2007/08 to UGX 4.5 trillion in FY
2017/2018 hence a short fall in funding for maintenance. With the rapid growth of traffic,
highest contributor of road pavements deterioration, exerts pressure on the road network
affecting its performance. Kampala has a total area of 1030 kilometers, 32% paved road
network. There are approximately 800,000 vehicles in the country with a potential of additional
20,000 vehicles per year and due to this high rise in motorization that the road pavements have
continued to deteriorate.
The research was carried out to assess road tolls as a way of financing road maintenance budget
in Kampala since Road tolling has become a gradually accepted method of raising funds for
maintenance and many countries have tried to combat the road maintenance cost by levying
tolls on road users.
Traffic counts were determined manually for seven days by use of MoWT manually sheets.
Estimated revenue from the traffic volume was determined for seven days to obtain how many
kilometers of the road network would be maintained basing on the unit rates of maintenance in
previous financial year reports. The toll rates for different vehicle categories were obtained
from established UNRA rates prevailing at the Express way.
Key Words
Road Tolling, Traffic Flow, Road Maintenance