Africa-Press – Uganda. Local leaders have decried the slow pace of construction works on the 23 kilometre Kira-Kasangati-Matugga road project.
The Shs200 billion project, funded by the government, is expected to be completed next year, but the works currently stand at 30 percent.
Mr Steven Kayongo, the general secretary of Bulamu Cell, alongside other local leaders, doubts that the contractor, Chongqing International Corporation (CICO), will deliver the project in the coming months.
“The contractor spent almost eight months doing nothing on the ground. When actual construction started, work is moving at a slow pace which is affecting people’s businesses. We ask Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) to engage the contractor to speed up the work,” Mr Kayongo said in an interview on Monday.
He added: “Traders dealing in textiles used to put some clothes on display to attract customers, but they cannot do that now due to dust. Some traders are forced to wash the clothes daily before handing them to their clients.”
Mr Kayongo, however, lauded Unra for processing compensation packages for landowners along the demarcated route for the project.
But Mr Charles Mutumba, the chairperson of Kazinga Cell, said one of the affected residents died before he was compensated.
Mr Allan Ssempebwa Kyobe, the spokesperson of Unra, said though the contract was signed in January 2021, actual construction works started six months later due to the Covid-19 pandemic-related challenges.
“It is true there have been some challenges, we are trying to solve them, but we are working hard to ensure that the road is completed,” he said.
Mr Ssempebwa said 90 percent of the right of way has been secured along the Kira –Kasangati section while 50 percent of landlords have been compensated along the Kira-Kyaliwajala section.
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