Speaker of Parliament Jacob Marksons Oboth has handed ROKO Construction Limited a firm 10-month deadline to complete the new Parliamentary Chambers and warned that the project must be delivered by June 30, 2027, after years of missed completion targets.
The directive followed a comprehensive inspection of the construction site by the Parliamentary Commission, which later held a high-level meeting with ROKO executives and project consultants to review the causes of the prolonged delays and agree on a binding completion roadmap.
During the meeting, ROKO officials signed a written commitment undertaking to complete the landmark project within the newly imposed deadline, while Parliament resolved to place the works under intensified supervision to ensure no further extensions are granted.
“The completion of the chamber shall be achieved by June 30, 2027. The contractor has made a commitment in writing, and we shall closely monitor execution to ensure this deadline is strictly honoured,” Speaker Oboth said.
The latest deadline accelerates the project’s completion by six months from the previous target of December 30, 2027, reflecting Parliament’s growing impatience over a project that has stretched nearly a decade beyond its original expectations.
The new Parliamentary Chambers, whose revised contract value now stands at about Shs220 billion, were initially estimated to cost around Shs179 billion when the contract was awarded in 2017.
Construction officially commenced in July 2017 and was originally expected to be completed in July 2020. However, the project has repeatedly slipped behind schedule as design revisions, security upgrades, utility relocations, the Covid 19 pandemic, international shipping disruptions and ROKO’s cash flow challenges slowed progress.
The Parliamentary Commission said its latest review identified two major factors behind the current delays.
“The Commission reviewed the root causes of past setbacks, which ranged from structural design modifications introduced by the Commission to cash flow constraints experienced by the contractor,” Oboth said.
Parliament is also considering measures, including advancing funds to the contractor, to help keep construction moving and prevent another deadline from being missed.
The project has faced persistent scrutiny from both Parliament and oversight institutions over its slow implementation.
The Auditor General previously raised concerns that by October 2020, three years after the contract was signed, physical progress had reached only about 24 percent, despite more than Shs74 billion having already been paid, warning that continued delays risked additional costs to taxpayers.
Earlier audits also pointed to delayed approval of improved designs, late appointment of key subcontractors for steel works and contract implementation challenges that slowed construction from its early stages.
Political pressure has intensified in recent years as legislators questioned why Parliament continued spending billions on rented office space while the permanent chambers remained unfinished.
Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi has repeatedly demanded accountability for government investments connected to ROKO, including the state’s equity injection into the company, arguing that projects cited to justify the bailout had remained incomplete despite significant public funding.
Despite the setbacks, Parliament says the project has entered an advanced stage of construction.
The eight storey complex, designed to accommodate up to 600 legislators, will feature a modern plenary chamber, committee rooms, offices for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, a library, archive centre, members’ lounge, dining facilities, a press gallery and upgraded security systems, including blast resistant infrastructure incorporated after the 2021 Kampala bomb attacks.
The June 30, 2027 deadline is presented as the project’s final milestone after nearly nine years of construction.
