The truth about the Malaba Busia road as I have known it: All stakeholders erred!
Jun 15, 2004
SIR— Two articles appeared in your paper recently about the Malaba/Busia-Malaba road. In the first article
SIR— Two articles appeared in your paper recently about the Malaba/Busia-Malaba road. In the first article, “Sh2b for Bugiri road†on May 21, Felix Osike and Yunusu Abbey quoted the transport ministry’s engineer-in-chief Samson Bagonza as saying that the Government would incur the loss due to the deterioration of the road, adding that the total length of the damaged area was 5.5km.
It further quoted him as saying the contractor was doing the work at the ministry’s cost. The second article, “Trucks destroy road†(May 24) by the same reporters quoted a ministry source as saying the removal of the weighbridge at Malaba Border Post was responsible for the road failure.
The correct record is as follows:
The road deteriorated prematurely within one year of completion. The ministry commissioned an independent consultant to analyse the failures and determine the causes. On the basis of the findings, the road would be repaired at the cost of the parties responsible for the failures. The findings were that the consultant who designed and supervised the project, the contractor who built it and the ministry itself were collectively responsible for the failures. Broadly, the design under-estimated the level the level of traffic loading. During the building, the contractor did not keep to the technical specifications. And the Government’s team did not enforce the legal axle-loading limit on the heavily-trafficked road.
After establishing 1.3m euros as the cost of re-instating the affected 5.5 lane-kilometres to its design strength and serviceability level, it was decided to immediately start the work forthwith in order to save the traveling public the danger the damage posed. The agreement for the repairs stipulates that the three parties will share the 1.3 million-euro cost according to their level of responsibility, to be determined after conducting a full-fledged joint axle load survey. Consequently, the Strabag/Strirling joint contractor brought into the country special equipment and started the repairs in May without any additional payment. One-half of the damaged section has already been fixed. The ministry is constantly watching other sections of the road to see if further deformation is taking place and take appropriate measures.
So while the breakdown of the weighbridge at Malaba may have been one of the factors to the failures, the underlying problem was much broader than this.
J. Matovu, PRO
Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications Entebbe
It further quoted him as saying the contractor was doing the work at the ministry’s cost. The second article, “Trucks destroy road†(May 24) by the same reporters quoted a ministry source as saying the removal of the weighbridge at Malaba Border Post was responsible for the road failure.
The correct record is as follows:
The road deteriorated prematurely within one year of completion. The ministry commissioned an independent consultant to analyse the failures and determine the causes. On the basis of the findings, the road would be repaired at the cost of the parties responsible for the failures. The findings were that the consultant who designed and supervised the project, the contractor who built it and the ministry itself were collectively responsible for the failures. Broadly, the design under-estimated the level the level of traffic loading. During the building, the contractor did not keep to the technical specifications. And the Government’s team did not enforce the legal axle-loading limit on the heavily-trafficked road.
After establishing 1.3m euros as the cost of re-instating the affected 5.5 lane-kilometres to its design strength and serviceability level, it was decided to immediately start the work forthwith in order to save the traveling public the danger the damage posed. The agreement for the repairs stipulates that the three parties will share the 1.3 million-euro cost according to their level of responsibility, to be determined after conducting a full-fledged joint axle load survey. Consequently, the Strabag/Strirling joint contractor brought into the country special equipment and started the repairs in May without any additional payment. One-half of the damaged section has already been fixed. The ministry is constantly watching other sections of the road to see if further deformation is taking place and take appropriate measures.
So while the breakdown of the weighbridge at Malaba may have been one of the factors to the failures, the underlying problem was much broader than this.
J. Matovu, PRO
Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications Entebbe