Baagala says over 600 manholes in Kampala have been vandalized by people who take off the metallic covers for scrap material.
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Newly Installed Manhole Cover in Wandegeya
Kampala Capital City Authority - KCCA
has started covering open manholes in Kampala City.
The uncovered manholes are a hug risk
to city dwellers especially pedestrians.
Brian Baagala, the KCCA Engineer In charge of drainage says they have 500 covers in stock to be placed on open
manholes. He says they have so far covered close to 100 manholes since they started the excercise two weeks ago.
There are over 2800 manholes in
Kampala and majority of them have metallic covers making them vulnerable to
vandalism.
However, Baagala says over 600 manholes in Kampala have been vandalized by people who take off the metallic covers for to use as scrap material.
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Eng. Baagala says previously, since
November 2015, they have covered about 680 manholes using composite material.
All these, he says are still intact. He says the ones made out of composite material are not vulnerable to
vandalism as they cannot be recycled
like the metallic ones.
The works are being carried out by a
contractor Linar Construction Limited under supervision by KCCA.
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Eng. Baagala explained that in areas
where the manhole is at the level of the road, they install covers with open spaces
to allow some water to flow through when it must. He says the
design life of the covers is 30 years.
Baagala says by June 30th, 2020 they would
have covered at least 400 manholes.
