Kira Municipality asks for more road funds

Kira municipal leaders have asked the government to increase funding for the municipal road networks.

Yesterday, while addressing stakeholders at Hotel Africana, Kampala, the Kira Municipality Mayor, Julius Mutebi, said most of the roads in the Municipality have potholes and a few good ones have a single seal surface which is likely to make them last less than 5 years.

"Our financial needs currently stand at sh2.9bn per kilometer. We want to tarmac pavements and acquire double seals to make the roads stronger and durable," he said

Mutebi said they have been able to tarmac 19.5km in the last three years bringing the total to 50km out of 292km road network in Kira municipality.

"We are happy that we have been able to achieve this development; however, we must acknowledge that almost half of the 50kms we are celebrating have a single seal surface dressing, with no drainage whose longevity may not go beyond 5 years," said Mutebi.

The budget breakfast meeting was held to give accountability in service delivery, achievements, and views that will inform the budget for the financial year 2020/2021. It was organized by Kira Municipality.

(L-R) Matia Lwanga Bwanika, Wakiso district Chairman, Hon Julius Mutebi, Kira Municipality Mayor, Frank Tumwebaze and Medard Sseggona, MP of Busiro East, Wakiso district interacting during the first stakeholders' breakfast meeting. Photo by Shamim Saad

 
The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Works and Transport Waiswa Bageya advised the stakeholders to distance themselves from using single seal tarmac roads.

"We have continuously stopped people from using single seal roads and you should rather do one kilometer of a single seal than doing five kilometers; most roads wear off very first because they are single seal roads," said Bageya.

Bageya added that roads should be categorized according to the volume of cars that the road accommodates.

"Single seal can apply if a road accommodates low volume cars for purposes of eliminating dust and mud; but in instances where the roadhouses high volume cars, it should strictly be double seal to reduce on cases of potholes," Bageya explained. 

Minister of Information Technology and Communications Frank Tumwebaze, congratulated the municipality upon their achievements and urged them to embrace integrated planning.

He urged the stakeholders to strategize and point out issues where they need the government's intervention.

"You should become strategic and pick points where you need the government to support you, for instance, roads that require extensive funding," Tumwebaze expounded.

Kira tax base
Mutebi revealed that the municipality has achieved a lot within the last three years such as growing its budget from 16bn in the last three years to 24bn.

According to Mutebi, they have registered a growth in the municipal's property tax base from 800m to 4bn since 2016.

"When we took over management, the budget for property tax was 800m but in that very financial year we were able to collect 2.6bn and since that time our portfolio for property tax has only grown bigger," he said.

Achievements
Kira municipal council has had key achievements in different sectors like infrastructure, education and health since 2016 among which are stone pitching of a number of roads, upgrading to tarmac 50km of roads, security lighting along Kabaka road among others.

Challenges
Dr. Kennedy Sejemba, a stakeholder who presented the performance overview of the municipality said the municipality was facing serious challenges as a fast-growing municipality. 

"Some of the challenges highlighted in the report as of the three years are 50km single sealed road which is posing sustainability challenges especially with the current traffic and heavy vehicles," Sejemba expounded.

He added that the Municipality is also facing challenges of inadequate revenue to finance physical and social services, disjointed incrementalism and traffic jam.