By Simon Naulele

RESIDENTS of Kengere Ward in Soroti municipality are outraged because of the delay in the completion of tarmacking the 1km Obwangor Road.

The road is located between Soroti Secondary School and Agip market in Eastern division.

“When the road was being commissioned (in May) by the mayor, we were told that it was going to be completed in three months and handed over to the community,” said Michael Ichumar, a businessman.

Ichumar added that the construction work had stalled and contractors had also vanished from the site.

The sh449m project is being undertaken by Femisa International Construction Company.

Rashid Opolot, a resident, discouraged road repairs at night as they may lead to shoddy work.

Mukuleta Asibo of Kigandani cell said: “The road is not also uniform. Certain areas are narrow, while others are wide.”

Soroti mayor Alfred Martin Aruo said the delay was because they returned funds not accounted for to the finance ministry

He added that they informed the finance ministry that they still had some pending work.

“We are grateful that the ministry has accepted to refund that sh307m which will be used for finishing Obwangor Road, the taxi park, workers’ houses, Pioneer Primary School and Moruapesur Health Centre III,” Aruo said

He assured the community that the road repairs would start this week.

However, municipal engineer Alex Oriokot said the delay was deliberate because they wanted the road to get compacted well.

An engineer who refused to be named said: “We would have finished this work in time, but we have not been paid. The people who supplied us with the construction materials are also demanding payments from us.”