Let Entebbe expressway be our new standard

President Museveni and Mr Wang Yang, chairman of Chinese People’s Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC) officially commission the Kampala- Entebbe Expressway project on June 15, 2018. COURTESY PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • The issue: Entebbe Expressway.
  • Our view: There are many reasons for Ugandans to look forward to this. The four-lane dual carriageway such as that on the new road will bring a lot safety to motorist and reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on our roads.

The much awaited 51km Entebbe-Kampala Expressway was on Friday officially commissioned by President Museveni and Mr Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Other dignitaries present were the vice chairman of China Exim Bank that funded the project to the tune of $479 million.
The road shall, however, be fully open to use in November when construction of the toll facilities and other final touches are expected to have been completed. A section – Kajjansi to Munyonyo – is however already open to the public.

Be that as it may, salutations are in order to the contractors for a job well done, to the Chinese government for the funding, and to the Uganda government on the successful completion of this landmark project. The humongous cost of construction notwithstanding, this project in many ways represents Uganda’s first steps into self-actualisation – at least from a roads infrastructure perspective.
Hopefully, this will be the new standard for all roads that connect all our major towns, starting with Kampala-Jinja. Kampala-Masaka, and Kampala-Luweero.

There are many reasons for Ugandans to look forward to this. The four-lane dual carriageway such as that on the new road will bring a lot more safety to motorists and reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on our roads. In a special report in this newspaper today, we share the grim statistics about accidents that show that at least 50,000 people died on our roads in the last 10 years (1997-2017). In graphic terms, that is the equivalent of about 3,570 full to capacity 14-seater taxis.
The cause of the accidents is mostly reckless driving exacerbated by the narrow two-lane roads carrying traffic in both directions. The accidents and fatalities would have been less or minimal if these were dual carriageways.

That said, the project was beset by lots of challenges including the land tenure system that made the process of acquisition slow and costly, and corruption. The country needs to take some lessons from this and without diminishing the value of private ownership make it easier for public projects to be realised and at an acceptable cost.
Then we will have more roads like this and begin to look like a middle-income country!