Kampala city centre has 2,489 potholes

By Roderick Ahimbazwe
and Mubiru Kakebe

Out of 89 roads in Kampala, 73 have potholes. The roads surveyed were main routes linking various suburbs to the city centre, as well as those connecting the central business district.

Lumumba Avenue had the highest number of potholes, 249 in total. It was followed by Buganda Road with 245 potholes. Buganda Road and Lumumba Avenue run parallel to each other and they both pass through the upmarket Nakasero parish.

The worst part of this road is near Mukwasi House, where the potholes have virtually eaten up the whole road.
Old Portbell Road from the MTN switch in Bugolobi to Jinja Road roundabout near Celtel House, had 166 potholes. The worst stretch is near Jazz Supermarket and Shell Bugolobi, where potholes are progressively growing bigger and merging to form ditches and furrows.

The area has permanent traffic jams as vehicles slow down to snail speed to navigate through the mess.
Ben Kiwanuka Street, from Hotel Equatoria to the Entebbe Road traffic lights has 157 potholes.

Some roads such as Mawanda, Ben Kiwanuka, Ntinda-Spear Motors, Bukoto Street and Katwe have monstrous potholes that become mini-ponds when it rains.

The biggest pothole is on Mawanda Road, followed by the one on Bukoto Street in Kamwokya.

The one on Bukoto Street looks like a small lake after it rains and most motorists abandon the road.
The roads in Industrial Area had few potholes, while the access road between Seventh Street and Namuwongo stage had a total of 62 potholes.

Katwe Road is smooth all the way to the junction with Mengo Hill Road, where there are 18 potholes. Roads like Makerere Hill Road and Upper Kololo terrace, were undergoing repairs at the time of the survey.

The closest to the end of city potholes was in 2007, during th preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) summit. During this period, massive repairs were done. But as soon as the foreign heads of state left, the potholes started reclaiming their places.

An engineering audit report released by the Road Sector Programme Support stated: “(The repairs) served the purpose of improved mobility during CHOGM.

“However, due to the age of the roads new potholes are appearing fast and unless a more appropriate measure such as full re-sealing is taken to reduce the ingress of water from the surface, they will deteriorate fast.”

Kampala City Council officials say the rate of repairs cannot match the rate at which new potholes develop, because the roads are too old. Some of the roads have been around for over 50 years yet they were designed to last 15 years.

“In fact, mere repairing of roads is like giving aspirin to someone suffering from malaria,” says KCC spokesperson, Simon Muhumuza. “To get rid of potholes, you have to do reconstruction.”

The Kampala road network covers about 1,100km, out of which only 340km are tarmac. Muhumuza says, of the 340km is tarmac, only 15%, is fairly okay. This leaves 85% needing reconstruction.

Age of the roads aside, poor maintenance is the leading cause of potholes. Most roads have no drainage channels.

Storm water runs on the road surface and deposit soil and rubbish. Cracks then develop on the roads as vehicles bump on the scatered soil and rubbish humps.

Soon the potholes develop and grow due to the combined force of surface runoff and tyres.

The public blames KCC for not maintaining drainage channels, while KCC blames residents for dumping rubbish in the channels.

Muhumuza says KCC does not have the money to maintain city roads. “About sh140b is needed for city roads every year,” he says.

Muhumuza estimates that sh1.2trillion may be considered adequate if the entire city road network is to be lifted to good standard.

Now that the central government is about to take over the city, residents wait to see the change it brings.

Effects of potholes

Blamed for accidents

Damage to vehicles

Traffic jams

Increased fuel consumption

High costs of vehicle maintanance

Injury to pedestrians.

Road rage