New cities lack sustainability plan for USMID infrastructure

The infrastructure set up in regional cities and municipalities under the Uganda Support for Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme is on the verge of collapse after leaders failed to develop sustainability plans for the project, the Daily Monitor has established.

In Masaka City,  many solar lamps installed in 2015 and 2016 on roads such as Yellow Knife Road, Edward Avenue, and Jathebai  Street, are no longer functional, while others have been vandalised.

Manhole covers are also not spared. Some have been stolen and many road pavements that errant motorists have knocked remain unrepaired.

The Masaka City Clerk, Mr Simon Ejua, said they have been grappling with the problem of limited funds for repairing the existing infrastructure under USMID.

“Today, Masaka City has a population of more than  250,000 people. The population prefers access to several resources and as leaders, we have certainly failed to secure funds to restore the damaged infrastructure such as vandalised solar street lights,” he said.

Mr Ejau made the revelation while meeting a delegation from Kampala City which made a benchmarking visit to Masaka City on Tuesday ahead of the implementation of the $608 million (about Shs2.2 trillion) World Bank-funded Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area-Urban Development Programme (GKMA-UDP)t for improving infrastructure in Kampala Metropolitan Area.

The Masaka City Physical Planner, Mr Martin Kigozi, said although they have greatly benefited from the USMID project including retooling technical personnel and establishment of physical plan labs that have changed the physical planning in the city,  their efforts to secure additional funds for the maintenance of infrastructure have not yet yielded positive results.

The Minister for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Ms Minsa Kabanda, advised Masaka City leadership to set aside some local revenue collected from markets for repairing infrastructure under USMID.

“It is a big concern that you can’t maintain some of these projects. The leaders have to use funds they generate locally and use it to maintain the street lights,” she said. 

The undersecretary for Kampala Metropolitan, Ms Monica Edemachu, promised to work with the local communities that will be the beneficiaries of the programme before its implementation, saying the experience they have got from the benchmarking visit in Masaka has greatly helped them.

Mr Rajab Kito, the Jinja City public relations officer, said money has not been available for repairing infrastructure but some funds amounting to Shs400m  have been put aside in the next budget for repairing the infrastructure under USMID.

“Amber Court-Nalufenya Road was one of the USMID projects before Jinja was elevated to Jinja City status. However, most solar lights are not working and some drainage covers are damaged. We shall use part of that money to repair such infrastructure,” he said.

However, Mr Kito said under the current road construction works standing at 98 percent, there is no money for street lighting because this component was not included in the project.

The Mbarara City Town Clerk, Mr Assy Abirebe, said they have tried to use part of the local revenue to repair damaged infrastructure but the money is not enough.

“For us we try to use our local revenue but of course it is not enough to handle the repairs. Also, as  city council, we  cannot afford to repair the constructed roads because of the costs involved and we have to depend on the central government,” he said.

Arua City Engineer Charles Omona said there is no sustainability plan but they have managed to fix the repairs whenever funds are available.

 “The only challenge we have is that sometimes the maintenance cost is too high that we cannot afford to rehabilitate all at the same time for all projects including USMID,” he said.

The Arua City Mayor, Mr Sam Nyakua, urged locals to desist from vandalising the newly installed street solar lights to have value for money.

Recently, at least 100 street lights were purchased at a cost of Shs678 million, according to the Deputy Arua City Clerk, Mr Cornelius Jobile.

In the Financial Year 2021/22, Arua City appropriated Shs50 million for repairs and maintenance of street lights.

In Mbale, the city residents are up in arms over non-functional street lights that have plunged the city into darkness.

The street lights that were installed in 2019, were either vandalised, knocked down by speeding cars or the solar panels were stolen.

The non-functional street lights are on Nabuyonga Rise and Mugisu Hill Road, a section of Kumi Road, Republic Street, and Paliisa Road.

Mr Cassim Namugali, the Mbale City mayor, said plans are underway to restore the street lights.

Mr Abdallah Magambo, the Mbale City deputy speaker, said the absence of street lights has serious implications on businesses in the city. 

He added that traders are forced to close early and rush home yet they could work up to around 10pm.

The USMID programme has been running since September 2013, with funding from the World Bank. It was meant to end in December 2018 but it was extended to December this year.

A total sum of $138m (about Shs495 billion) was spent during the first phase of the programme, which ran between September 2013 and 2018 while $360m (about Shs1.2 trillion) was spent during the second phase that ran from December 2019 and expired last December.

PLAN

In a bid to avoid total elimination of the USMID programme, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has already proposed a similar programme named the Uganda Cities and Municipalities Infrastructure Development (UCMID)  which shall benefit 48 urban centres,  including the current 33 and 15 new others.

This phase is also expected to be funded by the World Bank.

Compiled by Al Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Malik Fahad, Felix Ainebyoona, Coslin Nakayiira, Yahudu Kitunzi, Clement Aluma & Felix Warom Okello