Traders vow to strike over bad road

Traders on Kafumbe Mukasa Road, south of Kampala City, accuse the authorities of deliberately delaying to work on the road and are threatening to block it .

Traders on Kafumbe Mukasa Road in Kampala have vowed to demonstrate over the poor state of the road. They are demanding that authorities construct the road or else they will block it.

Mr Ronald Tugume, said: “It’s as if there is a deliberate delay to construct this road. Tractors came here and unearthed the roadsides, sewer drums are scattered everywhere on the road, but no work is going on for close to three years.

The Daily Monitor has, however, learnt that Shs5 billion was dispatched by the Ministry of Works to Stirling Civil Engineering Ltd in 2010 to construct the road.

Asked why the road had not been constructed three years later, Ms Susan Kataike, the ministry spokesperson, said: “Kafumbe Mukasa Road deal was extended to KCCA programmes.”

However, Mr Andrew Kitaka, the director engineering and technical services at KCCA, said the road was part of a bigger project, including Kisenyi Road which has been completed.

“Since Kafumbe Mukasa Road was part of the Kisenyi project, we had to lay the sewer system first for the construction to commence,” Mr Kitaka said.
“But when the Ministry of Works transferred the contract to KCCA, they never transferred the laying of the sewer system,” he added.

He said the process to re-award the sewer system to Dott Services, which was initially revoked, started two weeks ago.

“The process will cost about Shs4billion and the contract documents to award the contract to Dott services Ltd, have been forwarded to the Solicitor General for approval,” he said.

He promised that work would start “in a fortnight,” if the documents are approved, and end in about three months.

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