Investigating equipment productivity in feeder road maintenance in Uganda

Abstract

Rural roads form the largest part of Uganda’s road network (approximately 50.2%) and is therefore a critical part of economic growth in an agriculturally dependent country like Uganda. With Uganda’s rural population standing at approximately 76% of the total population and agriculture still employing approximately 72% of Uganda’s population, this underscores the need to fix loopholes in road maintenance strategies in Uganda with emphasis on rural roads. This study sought to conduct a detailed cost analysis with a view to determining whether productivity is at an optimum for specific road maintenance equipment in Uganda, with emphasis on mechanized agricultural plantation access road maintenance works. Two descriptive research methods were used: observations and case study approach. Control parameters affecting machine production were identified as machine repair costs, maintenance costs, machine depreciation costs, worker’s salaries, machine insurance costs, and machine fuel costs. Machine downtime was mainly affected by delays in procuring spares. The total hourly machine production costs were calculated to be 699,602 Ugx (185.84USD). This cost calculation can be improved upon in subsequent studies. The study recommends the need for an effective centralised electronic database where all feeder road maintenance data is collected, analysed, and recorded.