The Ugandan government is looking to raise nearly $1-billion through contractor-financing arrangements to enable the east African country to build 1 900 km of roads, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Traditionally Uganda has relied on direct budgetary allocations to fund infrastructure developments but scant tax revenues have meant the country's road network remains poor, stifling growth in east Africa's third largest economy.
Ugandan officials say the lack of basic infrastructure and a persistent power crisis has hindered the growth potential of a country that is hoping to become a top 50 oil producer.
"This is a small economy and if we're to wait for tax revenues to come in so that we develop these roads it may take time," Dan Alinange, spokesman for the state-run Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), told Reuters.
"So our new strategy is getting contractors themselves to source funding from financial institutions and we're looking to raise about $950-million to construct 1 900 km."
He said UNRA had already sent out calls for expressions of interest and hoped to receive proposals by October and hand out the first contract by early next year.
Contractors, according to UNRA, will negotiate with the finance ministry on interest rates and repayment periods.
Uganda discovered commercial hydrocarbon deposits in the Albertine rift basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the government estimates reserves at about 2.5-billion barrels.
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