Road users of Awindiri-Pajulu BAT trading centre are all smiles after the grading of roads that had become black spots in Arua city started.

Grading of the two-kilometre road from Driwala market up to the R.Enyau bridge started on Saturday, August 19, 2023.

The residents in the area said the road was last worked on over four years ago before the town became a city.

The road grading followed an outcry from the residents who petitioned the area MP for Ayivu west to intervene after the city engineering department ignored the road during the ongoing grading of roads with bad stretches.

The city engineering department claimed the road would be worked on under the ongoing project of constructing the bridge with funding from USMID.

Now, the residents have a sigh of relief following the area Member of Parliament John Lematia offer to grade the road.

BAT-Pajulu road has long been in a sorry state posing accident risks to road users.

Following the condition of the road, the residents had planned to mobilise funds locally to grade the road, but the Member of Parliament intervened and bought fuel for the work to kick-start.

Jane Akweru Ajuma, the chairperson of Driwala market vendors appreciated the development saying their businesses had dwindled due to expenses incurred on transport due to impassable roads.

According to her, they were using alternative routes to access the city centre which proved costly for them.

Amos Amira, a bodaboda rider at Driwala market stage, said they have been facing a lot of challenges in terms of business where they lost a lot of customers due to impassable roads which also forced them to increase prices from shillings 1,500 to shillings 3,000.

He is hopeful that, with the grading of the road, they are going to reduce the prices and make more trips.

Meanwhile, the chairperson BAT trading centre, Martin Bongo, said the grading of the road will improve the security in the area because Police previously could not respond easily fearing the condition of the road.

Dominick Aza, a resident of Ezovo village, anticipates an increase in sales after the grading of the road because people will be moving without difficulty like before.

Speaking to Lematia, the delay in bridge construction and continuous complaints from the public prompted him to take the initiative to grade the road to ease the movement of people.

According to him, access to different services within the city centre had been a nightmare to the community and yet the city could not help allocate funds meant for roads just because the road was designed under the bridge project.