Build another bridge at Jinja

SIR — Uganda and its neighbours in the West and North rely heavily on the road transport along the Northern Corridor.

SIR — Uganda and its neighbours in the West and North rely heavily on the road transport along the Northern Corridor.

This corridor happens to have a single important bridge at the Owen Falls Dam, Jinja.

The nearest alternative to this bridge is the railway crossing just a kilometre upstream near the source of the Nile. Otherwise, one would have to endure the longer murram stretch through Soroti - Lira road to cross at Karuma bridge.

I am not sure, and I stand to be corrected, if anybody in the national planning system of this country has ever thought of a scenario that the Jinja bridge could one time get a problem to compel the use of alternative route to Kampala and beyond.

The ever-increasing traffic flow on this bridge, with increasing haulage capacity (now some trucks load close to 50 tonnes) could one day surprise this nation with a collapse on the 50-year-old bridge.

I am not a “night dancer” but I foresee a day when something may happen to force the Government to provide alternative routing while arranging to repair the bridge. Repair of such an immense facility is not a simple project that would last a short while. It cannot be done without stretching users’ patience and terribly disrupting business.

I am prompted to mention this after observing how much time it took to repair a simpler break-down on Mpologoma bridge on Tirinyi Road which occurred in November last year.

I have not had opportunity to see the design of the proposed Bujagali power generation project, but I think it would be wise for the Government to provide for a road crossing like that at Owens falls Dam.

I am sure that additional cost would be justified by cost of the disruption that could arise if the current crossing needed repairs that would necessitate its temporary closure.

Johnson Muhumuza
Entebbe