Govt rushes to repair 120 collapsing bridges

By Anne Mugisa

A total of 120 bridges in the countryside are in dire need of repair and reconstruction, the Minister of Works, Eng. Abraham Byandaala has said.

The bridges have over time been weakened by a combination of factors like lifespan, overloaded trucks that cause wear and tear, an unprecedented increase of traffic exacerbated by the recent floods that left many collapsed.

Addressing a press briefing at the media centre Tuesday, Byandaala told journalists that the Ministry needs sh11bn annually to repair and construct 10 of these bridges. It also needs another sh200bn to pay contractors that have done work on roads and bridges, according to the minister.

The latest to collapse is the Mitaano Bridge which connects the Rukungiri-Mitaano-Kanungu road link between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to Byandaala, the road carries a sizeable volume of trade between the two countries.

He said that Mitaano link cannot be replaced immediately, but the Ministry of Works and the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) will move an emergency bridge from Muzizi to reopen the Ntungwe Bridge link on the Katunguru-Ishasha road.

He explained that the Mitaano link will need a 65m span bridge which is not available in the country currently.  

The Metal Bridge at Muzizi destined for Ntungwe, was used as a temporary intervention when the link between Tooro and Bunyoro collapsed, but that a new bridge has been constructed there now. The Ntungwe temporary bridge will take four weeks to assemble.

According to Byandaala, the Mitaano bridge collapsed under a lorry carrying a tonnage of cement exceeding the approved axle load. The lorry had been certified with the correct weight load at the Hima Cement factory, but when it got to town, the transporter sneaked more tonnage onto the lorry destined for the DRC.

Eng. Ssebunga Kimeze, the UNRA Director of Operations said together with the Police, they are trying to pursue the vehicle that broke the bridge to see how they can make them pay part of the repair bill.

He said, however that the tax payer will bear all the repair cost.

The director said that the law as it currently is frustrating because culprits who carry heavier-than-the-approved or recommended loads and damage roads are getting away with small fines of between sh200, 000 to sh600,000 at the Magistrate's Court.

He explained that amendments to the law are in the making to decriminalize these acts and instead provide for on-spot penalties commensurate with the damage they have caused.

Harmonising laws

According to Byandaala, the East African countries are also in the process of making a law which harmonises the axle load controls on all their roads. He said currently Kenya allows only 48 tons while Uganda allows 56 tons and that this has been a bone of contention.

He said that the East African Legislative Assembly will make the harmonising law and each of the member states would domesticate it.

Byandaala said that some work on repair of bridges is ongoing in the different parts of the country. Many of them, he said are very old colonial constructions which were undermined by heavy rains.

Meanwhile, UNRA has embarked on emergency repair of bridges and sections of the road washed away by the ongoing heavy rains in Karamoja, reports Olandason Wanyama.

The most affected road is Soroti via Moroto-Kotido road where the drainage channels have silted due to heavy rains in the past weeks.

The road section areas include, Nakichumet, Morulinga and Lopei in Napak district. Others areas are Nadunget, Lolachat in Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts respectively.

 "Karamoja has an estimated 400kms of road of which only two kilometers are tarmac in Moroto Municipality. It's also in a dire state," Hassan Ssentamu UNRA Moroto station engineer explained.

Ssentamu appealed to the road users in Karimojong to be calm as government prepares to find an everlasting solution for the road network.