Excitement as Museveni visits Mpigi, flags off expressway works

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate, President Yoweri Museveni is holding his second scientific campaign in the central region today.

He is meeting NRM party chairpersons, flag bearers and youth leaders from the three districts of Mpigi, Butambala and Gomba that make up Greater Mpigi sub-region.

There was general excitement as Museveni arrived in the area to commission the Busega-Mpigi Expressway before he proceeded to meet the leaders at Mpigi Police grounds.

Area leaders and residents expect the NRM chairman to address several challenges, including the land row between bibanja holders and absentee landlords.

"We want the land fund to have a bigger budget so that the landlords can be paid off to allow squatters to use land for production. Otherwise, the and question is a big threat to food security," Sarah Nakawunde, the Mpigi Woman MP, told New Vision.

Roads 
 
Over the last five years, several roads have been upgraded: Kanoni-Sembabule-Sembabule-Villa Maria (110km), Mpigi-Kanoni Road (65km) and Nansana-Busunju Road (48.km).

Major town roads in Mpigi, Butambala and Gomba have been upgraded along the Mpigi-Kanoni project route (20km), including: Kanoni - Kasaka church road, Gomba District Headquarters loop and Kanoni- Ssaza-Tondola sub-county access road.

The expressway is envisaged to connect Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Eastern DR Congo to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya.

The 23.7km road is expected to facilitate transport within the great Kampala metropolitan area and also improve the traffic flow along the Northern Corridor.

Water and sanitation

The Government constructed Maggi-Kiboga, Kagera, Kindeke and Kibanda-Bukomera communal valley tanks in the Sub-counties of Dwaniro (2), Bukomero (1) and Kapeke (1) in Kiboga District creating a water storage capacity of 48 million litres serving 4,100 animals.

To deal with the threat of environmental degradation, the Government plans to sensitise land owners to plant trees as a means to generate income and promote afforestation on bare hills.

Other measures include raising of eight million seedlings under National Community Tree Planting programme, resurveying and protection and restoration of 1,000 hectares of natural forests of Kasana-Kasambya, Mpanga and Singo areas.

Out of 27 sub-counties in Greater Mpigi, 20 of them have electricity and works are underway to extend power to seven new sub-counties that do not have connection yet.