Who is failing district roads?

Jan 17, 2007

IN the last few months, a number of major roads have been destroyed as a result of the heavy rains that caused flooding in most parts of the country.

By Joshua Kato

IN the last few months, a number of major roads have been destroyed as a result of the heavy rains that caused flooding in most parts of the country.

In Kayunga, a bridge over River Ssezibwa on the Mukono-Kayunga Road was washed away. In Kapchorwa, landslides cut off a number of main roads, including the Kapchorwa-Bukwo road. In Bundibugyo landslides blocked several roads.


Most districts have an average of 600km of road. The majority of the roads are murram.

Every district has a road unit. It includes two graders, two wheel-loaders, two vibro-rollers, three trucks, three pick-up trucks and at least two pedestrian rollers. This equipment costs at least sh2.5b, paid for by the Central Government. The districts also have a works and technical services department for maintaining the roads.

Local leaders say the biggest drawback to road maintenance is the cost of servicing the equipment. John Wycliffe Karazarwe, the Ntungamo LC5 chairman, says servicing a grader takes between sh2m to sh5m. “Each time you park a road machine for more than a week, you need to take it for service before it is deployed. In other words, anything below sh5m can’t take you to work on a road,” observed Karazarwe who is also the president Local Authorities Association.

However, while the equipment is not enough to work on murram roads in an entire district, they can go a long way in keeping the gullies off. But the equipment is reportedly misused.

“That district tractor is known for grading private people’s plots,” says a resident of one of the leading districts in central region. “When it is time to grade the roads, the excuse is always, ‘there is no money for fuel’.”

The trucks are mostly seen delivering construction material for top district officials, while the rollers simply rot away in parking yards.

One of the recent conflicts among district leaders over equipment involved the late Luweero district CAO, Simon Mpiira, and former Katikamu North MP Maj. James Kinobe. It was said that Kinobe had asked for the grader to work on a particular road. However, Mpiira turned down the request, sparking off a fierce animosity.

District leaders say that keeping the equipment in good mechanical condition is one of the biggest challenges. “They are always good in the first two or three years, but when they get older, they become more expensive to maintain,” says a district chairman. A tyre of a grader costs between sh2m and sh4m.

District roads designs
Most district roads are murram B or C. Murram roads are also characterised in three classes. Grade A, Grade B and Grade C, depending on the design. However, most of the Grade A roads are government roads.

Engineers say local governments rarely meet the right designs and construction necessities because they do not have enough money. Most of the roads are six metres wide, which is barely enough for two medium size trucks to bypass each other. These roads should be at least eight metres wide.

The other problem is the size of culverts used for making bridges. “Most of the district earth roads have culverts of 450mm in diameter. These cannot handle flooding, which is why many of them were swept away,” says an engineer with the ministry of works. Culverts should be at least 600mm.

Cost of road maintenance
According to the Ministry of Works documents for the last five years, the budget for national road maintenance has stagnated at about sh72b, which is short of the required sh130b.

The allocation for district and urban roads also stagnated at around sh22b, which is also far short of the required sh54b. Because of these shortfalls, the road network in the country is in a bad state.

In Iganga district, sh400m had been allocated for road construction in the 2006/2007 budget. “This allocation was for only two roads. But after the effects of the rains, we do not have any more money because the budget has already been passed,” laments LC5 chairman Asuman Kyafu. “They should not only look at CHOGM in Kampala. If roads in the villages are bad, where will the food to feed the CHOGM delegates pass?” he wonders.

Luweero district had budgeted for only sh180m for the construction of two roads. But after the heavy rains, so many other roads need repair.

“There is no money in the budget to repair these roads. We can only appeal to government for help,” says Ronald Ndawula, LC5 chairman.

In Kayunga, the district had allocated about sh300m for repair of the roads. However, the impact of the rains, especially on bridges, has been profound.

“We need at least sh300m to repair the bridge over River Sezibwa alone,” says Kayunga LC5 chairman Eng. Thomas Mulondo. He appealed to the Government for help.

In Kapchorwa and Bukwo districts, landslides that were caused by the rains blocked so many roads. Kapchorwa district chairman Nelson Chelimo says they do not have money to reopen all the roads.

Commenting about the roads, works state minister, John Byabagambi says the Government will work with districts to repair the roads.

Kampala roads taken over by
Government

In Kampala, the Government took over the management of some tarmac roads after most of them became impassable. The district has about 900km of roads, of which 360km are tarmac. Initially, the Government was responsible for only 56km of roads in the city. These were outlets mainly for Jinja, Bombo, Masaka and Hoima roads.

Most of the roads are in a bad state.

An engineer with the ministry of works says almost 200km of the 380km need resealing, while the remaining 160km are either new or already under construction.

At a cost of at least sh350m per kilometre for resealing, the Government will spend about sh12b to work on 56km of tarmac roads. And this mainly involves repairing pot-holes.

However, the mayor, Al-hajji Nasser Sebaggala, says what is needed is not just repairing pot-holes, but complete resealing of the roads. “The base of the roads was done in the 1950s,” he says. “If you just repair pot-holes, others will develop soon.”

To reseal the roads, KCC requires at least sh200b against an annual budget of about sh30b.

The ministry of works engineer also says that of the 500km of murram roads around the city, at least 400km are in bad shape and need re-grading. At the cost of about sh10m per kilometre, the district and Government will spend at least sh4b for the roads.

“We do not have enough funding to manage all these roads,” laments Sebaggala. Because of that, the Ministry of Works had to come in. But the ministry took over only the key roads, especially those in the city centre and other strategic areas.

This means KCC must find other sources of funding to work on the remaining roads.

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