By Bonney Odongo and Patrick Okino

OVER 450 residents of Lira, who were affected by the construction of Soroti-Lira road, are demanding compensation from the Government.

About 20 of their representatives last week camped at the offices of Comptran Engineering consultants, the company overseeing the project, and asked why they had not yet been compensated.

China Road and Bridge Construction Company got the contract from the Government of Uganda to tarmac the 124 kilometre road.

The project worth sh150b was funded by the World Bank and is due to be completed in November. Mike Ogwal, the group chairperson, said their property, which included land and houses, was valued about two years ago but they have never received payment.

He said the compensation, if effected, would help them to relocate to safer areas instead of facing the risk of living less than two metres from the road.

The National Roads Authority project engineer, Khalid Odongo, told the group that the valuation report had been submitted to the Government chief valuer and was only pending his approval.

“You will be compensated. However, some procedure has to be followed. Since the chief valuer is working all over the country, we may delay but only until the end of this month,” Odongo re-assured the residents.