Africa-Press – Uganda. The head of monitoring and evaluation of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) engineering brigade and Ministry of Defence evaluation committee Maj Gen Henry Matsiko has said the second phase of the modification of the passenger terminal building at Entebbe International Airport is at 42 percent completion.
“The engineering brigade showed us their work plan, their timelines and from what they have accomplished, they told us of a percentage and what has been put in, we think they are on course and have agreed when we will come back to see the progress,” he said.
Mr Matsiko made the remarks during the evaluation committee’s visit to the ongoing Shs24b second phase works on the passenger terminal building at Entebbe Airport on Tuesday.
“We are here as a team to support what our engineers are doing by discussing with them what they were given and ensure that they are complying,” he said.
Mr Matsiko downplayed members of the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure queries raised last year on the ability of the UPDF engineering brigade to complete the modification of the passenger terminal building during an inspection of the works in April last year.
“This brigade is capable and you can’t doubt the judgment of the commander in chief, we are urging the government partners to trust us, the capacity is there and we shall keep building on it,” he said.
“We are now entering a new frontier, previously we were working on our combat works, a few semic works, now that we have gone in to do work of government, where there gaps, we are going to fill those gaps in terms of equipment, in terms of personnel we are reinforcing the engineering brigade,” Mr Matsiko added.
The UPDF engineering brigade started working on the passenger terminal building extension project on April 9, 2022 following a directive from President Museveni.
This was after the completion of the first phase in December 2020 by M/s Seyani Brothers that had been contracted by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) which involved the construction of the 4-level structure, external finishes of the structure, raised access road, and the internal finishes of the departures floor.
The Project Manager Col. Godfrey Tukamwakira said the modification of the arrivals at the terminal building is on course and will be complete within the scheduled one-year period.
“We are still within the budget framework, we are within the project cost, we have so far consumed 32 percent of the project cost and yet we have achieved 42 percent of the works done, by that when you compare the two, you realize we are doing very well,” he said.
Mr Tukamwakira said the project is being measured at an international level with a consultant managing the engineering brigade to complete pending works on the arrivals section.
“What we have done is begin with critical parts, once we finish those works then they can enable us to do these other activities to compliment the ones on the critical parts within finishing time, in the next five months we shall have completed the work if everything stays on course,” he said.
The clerk of works at the terminal Mr Segson Nsekuye of Ssentoogo and Partners, Architects and Planning Consultants that were appointed to supervise the construction works said the brigade is conforming to the specifications with the works done so far.
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