Africa-Press – Uganda. Residents of Rubirizi and Ibanda have welcomed the commissioning of the Shs2b Buhindagye Bridge, which provides a shorter link between the two districts.
The residents say with the bridge has now reduced by about 20 kilometres while transport fares have reduced by half.
“I do business using a boda boda, but I would spend between Shs10,000 and Shs15,000 to go to Rubirizi. Now with the construction of this bridge, I spend between Shs5,000 and Shs7,000,” said Mr Didas Tukamuhabwa, a produce dealer in Kicuzi Sub-county, Ibanda.
Rubirizi is a conduit to markets in Kasese and the DR Congo.
Mr John Kapimpi, the councillor representing Kicuzi Sub-county in Ibanda, said over the years, children have drowned in Buhindagye river while trying to cross to Rubirizi for better services.
“To access better health services outside this sub-county, the nearest facilities are in Rubirizi; Rubirizi Health IV and Comboni Hospital and we had no alternative except crossing the river,” he said.
“Rubirizi has better schools than ours; so, to access these services residents risked crossing River Buhindagye and some drowned, especially children. The construction of this bridge brings us hope to access better social services across the two districts,” Mr Kampimpi added.
Rubirizi vice chairperson Ventino Byamukama said the bridge will ease doing business among the locals in the two districts and will boost household income.
“Residents between these two districts would do business by carrying merchandise on their heads,” Mr Byamukama said.
Mr Jackson Kafuzi, the deputy Attorney General, who presided over the commissioning of the bridge last Friday, said Ugandans now have the capacity to support their own economy through their own investments.
“The quality of the bridge and Kabba contractors that were sourced here locally gives us confidence in our Build Uganda, Buy Uganda (Bubu) policy to boost economic growth. We hail the ministry of Works, the local leadership for supporting this strategy of hiring and sourcing capable local contractors,” he said.
Mr Kafuzi said the government will commit more funds towards the construction of district [and community] roads since they play a big role in the economic transformation of ordinary citizens and the country.
“We, however, noted that one of the main bottlenecks on these roads is the old or non-existence of bridging structures across various rivers, streams and swamp crossings and we have now committed more funds to address this gap,” he said.
The chief engineer at the Works ministry, Mr Samson Bagonza, said they are constrained to address infrastructure challenges such as building bridges due to limited budget.
“Because of the change in weather conditions, the washouts are many, but the budgets are limited. We only get Shs20b for bridges, which means in a year, we can construct six bridges across the country. We pray that the budget for bridges could at least be increased to Shs50 billion a year,” he said.
About bridge
Construction of the nearly Shs2b Buhindagye Bridge was contracted to Ms Kabba Uganda Ltd in 2019, but it was completed only this year, almost two years after the planned December 2019 deadline.
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