Jinja-Bugiri road for temporary improvement

Feb 25, 2007

THE 84km Jinja-Bugiri road is to get temporary repairs on some sections to improve mobility, ahead of tarmacking. Works minister John Nasasira said the road would be one of the long-lasting ones in Uganda, given the heavy local and international traffic on it.

By John Odyek

THE 84km Jinja-Bugiri road is to get temporary repairs on some sections to improve mobility, ahead of tarmacking. Works minister John Nasasira said the road would be one of the long-lasting ones in Uganda, given the heavy local and international traffic on it.

Nasasira on Friday toured the road with area MPs, the EU ambassador to Uganda and MPs on the parliamentary committee on infrastructure. He said the contractors would also put temporary tarmack on some sections that were dusty, to reduce the nuisance to residents and travellers.

“There are major complaints like maintenance of the road; the contractor will keep the road passable. One section of the road is affected by dust but temporary work will be done. It will be tarmacked and sealed to reduce dust and the rest will be completed later.”

Nigeria-based Reynold Construction Company Ltd and Ghana’s SONITRA, are to rehabilitate the road jointly in the EU-funded project that will cost sh110b. Construction started last July and will end in December 2008.

Vincent De Visscher, the EU ambassador, warned that they would monitor performance every month and would take action in case of any delays or problems.

“EU has committed itself to improving the road. We know people are suffering because of the dust but you cannot have the omelet without breaking the egg,” he said.

He urged road users to slow down while on the road so as to reduce accidents.
He asked Umeme, power company, to transfer poles along the road to speed up construction.

Thomas Grave Hansen, the project manager RCC, said 12km of the 84km road had been completed, meaning 5% of the work had been done.

He said unrest caused by a strike recently after workers demanded better conditions of work, had been resolved and would not happen again.

MPs accused the contractors of being unsupportive to road users by not putting warning signs where work was going on.

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