Katumba is concerned that several roads are spoilt shortly after their construction, largely due to unbecoming social behaviour in the host communities. He says such bylaws should prevent poor disposal of garbage that ends up clogging drainage channels and walkways.
Local Leaders of Masaka District and City joining Works and Transport Minister Edward Katumba at the commissioning of Nyendo-to-Bukakata Road on Monday
Works and Transport Minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, is
pushing for stringent bylaws against poor garbage disposal in
urban councils to safeguard road infrastructure
from destruction.
Katumba is concerned that several roads are spoilt shortly
after their construction, largely due to unbecoming social behaviour in the
host communities. He says such bylaws should prevent poor disposal of garbage
that ends up clogging drainage channels and walkways.
According to the public expenditure governance in
the roads sector report by Advocates Coalition for Democracy and
Environment-ACODE, Uganda spends about 12 per cent of the roads sector budget on maintenance activities. For instance, the study established that an average of 450
billion Shillings was spent on road maintenance between 2015 and 2019.
Katumba challenged local government leaders to consider
intervention that will reduce the burden by enacting punitive bylaws against
all habits that cause defects that affect the roads hence the failure to last
their lifespan.
He was commissioning the the 41-kilometre Nyendo-Bukataka Road in Masaka
on Monday,
//Cue in; “abantu bano…
Cue out…garbage disposal.”//
Luganda//Cue in; “the local government…
Cue out…of fifty thousand.”//
The Nyendo-Bukakata Road is the major transport route that
connects Masaka district to Kalangala islands through Bukakata Landing Site at
the ferries docking pier. It was upgraded from gravel to paved
standard at a cost of 165.32 billion Shillings; a loan government obtained from
the Arab Bank for Economic Development of Africa-BADEA and the OPEC Fund for
International Development-OFID.
Engineer Joseph Otim, the Director in Charge of Roads Maintenance
at the Uganda National Roads Authority-UNRA, has on the other hand challenged the local leaders in the area to ensure that the road furniture that includes among others; signposts and manhole covers are not vandalized.
//Cue in; “I implore the communities…
Cue out... the cost of management.”//
Masaka City Mayor Florence Namayanja says that the
Nyendo-Bukakata has been one of the long-awaited projects in the area and its completion is going to simplify business and transport between
Kalangala and Masaka, and the landing sits that directly feeds into the city.
She however appealed to the Minister to support Masaka City with
additional financial allocations into the Road Fund Budget to enable
them to attend to the needs of the new areas that were annexed to the city.
