Sh2b for Bugiri road
May 20, 2004
THE Government is to spend 1.3m euros (sh2.86b) on Malaba-Bugiri road repairs following the discovery of defects less than a year after it was completed.
By Felix Osike and Yunusu Abbey
THE Government is to spend 1.3m euros (sh2.86b) on Malaba-Bugiri road repairs following the discovery of defects less than a year after it was completed.
Samson Bagonza, the works ministry’s engineer-in-chief, said the Government would incur the loss due to the deteriorating state of the road, which has to be fixed to ease traffic flow.
It is only the lane for trucks coming from Kenya to Uganda which is greatly affected. The cumulative total of the damaged area is said to be 5.5km of the 82.4km Malaba-Busia-Bugiri road. KFW of Germany, funded the project at a cost of about $22m.
Ministry officials said the road developed cracks less than three months after contractors Strabag from Germany and Stirling International (Italy) Joint Venture, completed their work in September 2002.
“In fact the road failed prematurely and we have now asked the contractors to repair the affected sections,†an engineer said.
The New Vision saw damaged road surfaces at Namayemba, with signs saying, “go slow damaged surface ahead.â€
Other damaged sections are at Buwumi, Kibimba, Muwayo, Namutere, Busitema forest, Ndaiga and the junction linking Malaba road to Tororo. The most affected are hilly areas and at humps.
Bagonza said, “It was agreed the contractor does the remedial work at our cost. But after investigating the causes further, we shall know how to share responsibilities.â€
Speaking at the signing of the Northern By-Pass project on Tuesday, works minister John Nasasira said the Malaba-Katuna road (northern corridor) was the most important on the national road network. He said the Northern Corridor takes 30% of the international traffic to Burundi, 60% to Rwanda and almost 100% to Uganda.
There were emergency repairs going on at Kibimba last week. Contractors were replacing damaged bitumen with a new layer.
Gauff Consulting Engineers, a German firm, is supervising the repairs while works officials monitor. Repairs are expected to end in July.
Ministry officials said the Government rejected the road because the failures were discovered in less than the stipulated 12 months after completion of the project.
The Government also still retains a certain percentage of the contractor’s payment until the road is handed over.
“Because of the failures, we couldn’t accept it,†Bagonza said.
THE Government is to spend 1.3m euros (sh2.86b) on Malaba-Bugiri road repairs following the discovery of defects less than a year after it was completed.
Samson Bagonza, the works ministry’s engineer-in-chief, said the Government would incur the loss due to the deteriorating state of the road, which has to be fixed to ease traffic flow.
It is only the lane for trucks coming from Kenya to Uganda which is greatly affected. The cumulative total of the damaged area is said to be 5.5km of the 82.4km Malaba-Busia-Bugiri road. KFW of Germany, funded the project at a cost of about $22m.
Ministry officials said the road developed cracks less than three months after contractors Strabag from Germany and Stirling International (Italy) Joint Venture, completed their work in September 2002.
“In fact the road failed prematurely and we have now asked the contractors to repair the affected sections,†an engineer said.
The New Vision saw damaged road surfaces at Namayemba, with signs saying, “go slow damaged surface ahead.â€
Other damaged sections are at Buwumi, Kibimba, Muwayo, Namutere, Busitema forest, Ndaiga and the junction linking Malaba road to Tororo. The most affected are hilly areas and at humps.
Bagonza said, “It was agreed the contractor does the remedial work at our cost. But after investigating the causes further, we shall know how to share responsibilities.â€
Speaking at the signing of the Northern By-Pass project on Tuesday, works minister John Nasasira said the Malaba-Katuna road (northern corridor) was the most important on the national road network. He said the Northern Corridor takes 30% of the international traffic to Burundi, 60% to Rwanda and almost 100% to Uganda.
There were emergency repairs going on at Kibimba last week. Contractors were replacing damaged bitumen with a new layer.
Gauff Consulting Engineers, a German firm, is supervising the repairs while works officials monitor. Repairs are expected to end in July.
Ministry officials said the Government rejected the road because the failures were discovered in less than the stipulated 12 months after completion of the project.
The Government also still retains a certain percentage of the contractor’s payment until the road is handed over.
“Because of the failures, we couldn’t accept it,†Bagonza said.