Africa-Press – Uganda. About two weeks ago on a Monday morning, a taxi splashed dirty water on pedestrians on Seventh Street, Industrial Area in Kampala forcing some to go back home to change clothes.
The water had accumulated in potholes on the road following a downpour early that morning.
Mr Robert Opio, a resident of Namuwongo, a suburb of Kampala, says the potholes have inconvenienced him a lot because he has to manoeuver them on his way to work on Seventh Street and on Namuwongo Road where he stays. A guard with one of the security companies in the suburb, Mr Opio, said his friend was hit by a speeding car on Namuwongo Road as the driver attempted to dodge a pothole.
“My friend spent six months using crutches and after that he was fired from his job because he could not do his work. These potholes will kill all of us one day if Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) does not work on them,” he said.
It is not just Seventh Street struggling with this problem. On Mukalazi Road in Bukoto, potholes have eaten into the road near Ssemogerere Zone police station. Being on a curve, many accidents have happened at the spot as speeding cars attempt to dodge the potholes.
Issue
Ms Shamim Nakibuuka, a resident of Kisasi in Kampala, says her car was smashed early this year at the same spot.
“I was driving slowly when suddenly I saw a speeding taxi approach and before I could dodge it, it hit my car. I lost control but the taxi guy drove away and even the nearby police could not help. The road is narrow and a pothole in the middle is difficult to dodge so KCCA needs to work on these roads because we pay them taxes,” Ms Nakibuuka said.
Across the city, many of the roads are in a deplorable state due to the potholes. Very often, KCCA staff can be seen patching up some of them, only for the potholes to reappear a few days later.
An assessment conducted by the World Resources Institute in August 2020, found that many roads are narrow, and of poor quality, with potholes.The report also says less than 50 per cent of the paved road network has road signage.
There is a need for additional junction upgrades, including lane demarcation, construction of pedestrian infrastructure and signalisation and that the majority of roads in the city have unprotected cycling and pedestrian walkways, and existing cycling and pedestrian walkways are unconnected.
Officials from KCCA say Kampala Metropolitan area has the largest number of registered vehicles in Uganda with about 70 per cent of the total number of cars in the country, It also has the highest number of road crashes compared to other parts of the country, according to the officials.
Kampala City alone registered more than 3,000 crashes and more than 300 road traffic fatalities in 2019, according to statistics by the Uganda Police Force.
In January, KCCA announced a grand plan to repair roads with potholes. The move, according to KCCA spokesperson Daniel Muhumuza Nuweabine, was to make city roads motorable and reduce peak hour traffic congestion, which has persistently affected city dwellers’ mobility and productivity.
“It should be noted that 75 per cent of the 600km of paved road network has outlived its design life and is exhibiting failures such as potholes and edge distress. The failures are worsened by poor drainage systems, increased traffic load and extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain that have eroded the road surfaces,” Mr Nuweabine said.
Figures from KCCA indicate that as a result of the poor state of roads, about $800m (Shs2.8 trillion) is lost annually in vehicle maintenance, close to $1.5m (Shs5.3b) a day is lost in travel time and traffic delays while another $100 (Shs356b) to $200m (Shs712b) is lost by businesses and damage to property across the city each year.
“Accordingly, KCCA spends close to Shs30b each year for road maintenance works to avert the above losses by ensuring that the roads are in motorable condition as we mobilise resources to embark on a comprehensive overhaul of the road network,” Mr Nuweabine said. He said a number of the roads are under repair by both the in-house engineers and contractors.
Mr Nuweabine added that KCCA is set to start repairs and construction of more than 70km of city roads with a funding of $260m (Shs925.3b) from the African Development Bank by June.
“KCCA is in the advanced stages of procuring contractors to undertake works on roads such as Wamala, Luwafu, Kabega, Muteesa, Old Mubende, Kigala, Port Bell and Spring road. Other roads to be rehabilitated include Salaama, Sentema, and Kyebando Ring Road, among others,” Nuweabine said.
While the authority has continued to repair some of the roads, the quality of work done has in most cases been poor. Two months ago, a drainage embankment on Nakivubo channel at Mukwano Roundabout caved in less than a month after it was constructed. Sources at the authority said the construction cost about Shs6b.
A boda boda cyclist rides past a pothole on Salama Road in Kampala.
Poor garbage disposal at blocked drainage channels add to bad situationCurrently, Kampala has a road network of 2,100km of which 642km is paved with a drainage system of 145km of major drains and 3,428km of minor drains. Of these only 714km (20 per cent) are constructed open drains, according to data from KCCA.
Ms Betty Amongi, the minister of Kampala, said government is aware of the bad state of roads in the city and through KCCA has come up with a plan to revamp the existing network.
This, according to the minister, includes 69km of road funded by Africa Development Bank, to be constructed with walkways, cycling lanes, drainage and street lighting. She also said additional funding is being sourced from the French Development Agency fund for 20,000 street lights.
“To address the current outcry due to pothole challenges in the city, government has availed funds to undertake remedial and interim measures to make roads motorable as we await the major interventions. At least Shs9b has been availed this fourth quarter to undertake emergency road repairs at key points and sections of roads,” she said.
She also said currently, the city has a strained and dilapidated drainage system, increased traffic load and extreme weather conditions such as heavy rains that have eroded the road surfaces.
“As we endeavour to revamp our city infrastructure, we are disappointed by improper waste (garbage) management through irresponsible dumping of garbage (polythene, plastic bottles, agricultural and trade refuse) that ends up blocking the existing drainage system,” she said.
List of roads with potholes in Kampala
1. Ernest Mukalazi Road2. Saddler Way3. Mackenzie Vale4. Bukoto-Kyebando Road5. Old Kira Road6. Wildlife Street7. Kanjokya Road8. Bukoto Road9. Kitezi Road10. Prince Charles Drive11. Impala Road12. Malcolm X Avenue13. Ibis Road14. York Terrace15. Lower Kololo Terrace16. Golf Course Road17. Namuwongo Road 18. Sixth Street19. First Street20. Seventh Street21. Eighth Street22. Port Bell Road23. Wabigalo Close24. Mulago Roundabout25. Yusuf Lule Road26. Sir Apollo Kagwa Road27. Jinja Road from Nakawa to Kireka28. George Street29. Ben Kiwanuka Street 30. Press house Road 31. Ggaba road 32. Sentema Road 33. Kalema Road 34. Alice Kaggwa Road35. Nabweru Road36. Bombo Road37. Wamala Road 38. Luwafu Road 39. Kabega Road40. Muteesa Road 41. Old Mubende Road 42. Kigala Road43. Kyebando Ring Road44. Mukwano Road45. Katonga Road46. Ssezibwa Road47. Kyagwe Road48. Mawanda Road49. Kagera Road50. Church Road51. Bukasa Close52. Mbogo Road End Connectivity53. Namasole Road54. Namasole Road -255. Kayemba Road56. Salama Road57. Bandali Rise58. Bazarabusa Road59. Factory Close Roads60. Faraday Road61. Kisasi-Kyanja Road62. Luthuli Avenue63. Luthuli Lane64. Luthuli Rise65. Mulwana/Kibira66. Naguru Avenue67. Naguru Drive68. Princess Anne Drive69. Ntinda-Kyambogo70. 8 Princess Anne Drive71. Salmon Rise72. Spring road73. Old Port Bell Road74. Rubaga Road75. Sir Apollo Kagwa Road 276. Nasser Lane 177. Nasser Lane 278.Nasser Road79. Nakivubo Road80. Allen Road81. Martin Link82. Martin Road83. Rashid Khamis Road 184. Rashid Khamis Road 285. Ginnery Road86. Berkeley Road87. Berkeley Road 288. Berkeley Road 389. Musajja Alumbwa Road90. Mwanga 2 Road91. Wampewo Avenue92. Third Street93. Victoria Avenue94. Ternan Avenue95. Kintu road96. Kira Road 197. Yusuf Lule North (Binaisa Rd)98. Bombo Road 299. Lubiri Ring Road100. Wankulukuku Road101. Sentema Road102. Masiro road
KCCA digs up Eighth Street after 90 days
Potholes on Eighth Street which were refilled have again emerged and need refilling again.
Authorities at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) have again dug up a one-kilometer-long section of Eighth Street in Industrial Area to seal potholes with compacted gravel barely three months after the last repair.
The patchwork being executed by M/s Ali Mubarak, an engineering company, commenced a week ago.
However, the continuous digging and sealing of potholes on city roads not only raises queries on the competence of contractors but also undermines KCCA’s effort to keep the city motorable.
The sealing of potholes on the Eighth Street mirrors a road crisis in the country’s capital city where most of the roads are impassable due to potholes.
For instance in an on-spot audit in February, this reporter counted 223 potholes on Eighth Street, stretching from the Mukwano Road junction to the turn off onto Main Access Road (Ssali stage), which connects to Seventh Street.
Mr Simon Nsubuga, a motorist, said: “This has been the practice on this road for the last five years now and we are tired of it. KCCA should work towards paving the entire road and stop this system of sealing potholes because they resurface after a very short time.” The engineers we found on site declined to speak to us and referred us to KCCA.
KCCA’s acting head of public and corporate affairs, Ms Juliet Bukirwa Muwanguzi, told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that the Eighth Street is among the roads in the city that have been earmarked for construction.
The roads will be bankrolled by the African Development Bank (ADB).However, Ms Muwanguzi explained that what KCCA is doing now is to seal the potholes to keep them motorable before construction starts.
“Eighth Street has a drainage issue and that is why it needs a complete overhaul. It is one of the roads that have been earmarked for construction and we are hopeful that most roads will be upgraded to ensure mobility,” she said.
She added that KCCA currently operates on a shoe-string budget which has affected their infrastructural projects.
Most of the road and drainage works in the city are bankrolled by development partners in form of loans.KCCA is struggling to secure Shs714b, which is almost twice their current budget, to implement the Kampala Drainage Master plan which was developed in 2017.
KCCA’s director of engineering and technical services Justus Akankwasa told this newspaper in February that the authority receives Shs25b annually for rehabilitation of roads from the Uganda Road Fund (URF) while the other funding comes from development partners.
KCCA took over a road network of 1,200kms in 2011 but when a new road inventory was conducted in 2015, it was established that the city had a total road network of 2110kms.But Mr Akankwasa said they have at least paved 620kms of the city’s total road network.
Key funding and infrastructural gaps
• 600kms: Statistics show that only 600kms of the 2,100km road network across the city’s five divisions are paved.• 1,500 kms: The remaining kilometres of roads that are unpaved in Kampala. • Shs406b: In the Financial Year 2020/2021, KCCA was allocated Shs406b.•Shs714b: KCCA is still struggling to secure Shs714b to implement the Kampala Drainage Master plan.
By Amos Ngwomoya
