The Uganda Road Fund (URF), established in 2008 by an Act of Parliament had its purpose to finance routine and periodic maintenance of public roads in the country. Since its operationalization in 2010, the Fund still struggles to deliver on its mandate. Many roads remain in poor condition with little or no maintenance. There are several indications that funds raised were inadequate for maintenance of the current rapidly increasing road stock. Opponents of the road fund framework have argued that formation of Road Funds not
only hampers on optimal allocation of resources, but also compounds cash and
financial management inefficiencies. Proponents of the road fund framework, are quick to point out that despite the shortcomings, road funds confer advantages of decentralization and autonomy. The performance of the URF is examined in this paper and focuses on four issues, namely: i) management of the URF, ii) the sources of funds for URF, iii) utilization of funds under URF, and iv) adequacy of the fund for maintenance of the road network in Uganda.
