KCCA starts repairs on city roads

By Taddeo Bwambale

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has embarked on repairs of several city roads in the central business district, which have been in dire state.

Ntinda-Kiwatule Road on the outskirts of the city is undergoing major repairs in which the entire base has been removed. The road will be fitted with a stronger layer of tarmac. The drainage channel along the busy road has been opened up to remove debris.

Other roads undergoing similar repairs include Buxton Road behind Shoprite; Allen Road located between the New Taxi Park and Qualicel Bus Terminal, as well as Channel Street near Mukwano Arcade.

The repairs carried out under KCCA’s emergency pothole repair programme involve replacing the base layers of road with stronger materials. The works are estimated to cost sh3.8b.

KCCA’s engineer in charge of road maintenance, Mirembe Nnassuuna said the repairs on the roads were expected to be complete by the end of January.

She said although the works were supposed to involve resealing potholes, most of the city roads are so dilapidated that patching them would be a wastage of resources.

She disclosed that KCCA was in the process of procuring a mix of asphalt used to lay tarmac on the selected roads. Unlike the traditional system of hiring contractors to work on the roads, .KCCA is using its own equipment, workers and resources to carry out the repairs.

Nnassuuna said the Authority needed more funding to work on more roads.

The Government allocated sh45.5b to KCCA for this financial year, of which sh3.8b was earmarked for emergency road repairs.

Kampala has 1,200km of road, of which 38% is tarmac. However, over 80% of the tarmac in the city is in dire state, Nnassuuna explained.

KCCA needs over sh1 trillion to maintain roads in the city over a five year period.

Nnassuuna appealed to people operating near the roads to desist from throwing rubbish in the drainage channels. 

She cited people operating in the arcades and shopping malls, who build on top of drainage systems and dispose rubbish in the channels.