Road Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Uganda 2000-2018 Kampala International University

ABSTRACT This report investigated Road Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Uganda 2000 - 2018, the Study considered all national roads, that is, paved and unpaved roads however, district roads were excluded due to lack of data for the entire period of the study. The emphasis on national roads was both due to data availability and the multiplier effects associated with these roads towards economic growth. The objectives of the study were to: establish the causality between economic growth and expenditure on road infrastructure, examine the effect of expenditure on paved and unpaved roads on economic growth and the impact of coverage of paved and un paved road infrastructure on economic growth in Uganda. Simple OLS single-factor regression models were employed in analyzing the effect of road infrastructure on economic growth. The models regressed investment in road infrastructure, coverage of both paved and un paved roads with the Gross domestic product (GDP) The secondary data used was obtained from various sources including the statistical abstracts, Background to the budget from UNRA, UBOS, MFPED as well as World Bank data base. The results indicated that in the long-run when government increases investment in roads by one unit, the rate of economic growth will increase by 0.013222 percent, if government increases in coverage of paved roads by one unit, the rate of economic growth will grow by 0.003 and if government increases the coverage of un paved roads by one unit, the rate of economic growth will be 0.0008. Basing on the findings of the study government should commit more resources to increase provision of roads especially paved since they are relatively durable as well as making efforts for the unpaved roads to reach all parts including the rural areas to further stimulate economic growth through the multiplier effect. Also, both public and private sectors should increase on the directly productive capital in order to enhance sustainable economic growth in the country.