Pothole on Masaka-Kampala highway surprised us –Unra
Unra staff repairing the damaged section of Kampala-Masaka highway at Lwera swamp, Kalungu District on March 25,2019. PHOTO BY MUZAFARU NSUBUGA
What you need to know:
- Kampala –Masaka highway was in poor state until 2009 when government secured about Shs103b from European Union and started upgrading the road to grade II bituminous surface with drainage channels, culverts and shoulders.
KALUNGU. Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) has said a big pot hole which developed at Lwera swamp along the Masaka-Kampala highway in central Uganda took them by extreme surprise, but it has since been sealed.
According to Unra highway specialist, Moses Ochole, they suspect the contractor unknowingly used faulty culverts which rusted and caused a hole.
“But our engineers rushed to the site ,assessed the damage and have since fixed the problem ,” he said over the weekend during a one-day-workshop hosted by Unra in Masaka Town to give a status update on road maintenance works to local leaders, administrators.
Local leaders led by Masaka District chairperson had earlier expressed concern over the gapping pothole at Lwera which they said could led to accidents.
Unra Station Manager in Masaka, Henry Komakech, has cautioned motorists using the highway against speeding to avoid accidents .
Kampala –Masaka highway was in poor state until 2009 when government secured about Shs103b from European Union and started upgrading the road to grade II bituminous surface with drainage channels, culverts and shoulders. The road works were done in two phases and the last phase which was done between 2012 and 2013 saw the road widened from 6.5 metres (21ft) to 11 metres (36 ft). Under the same contract which was undertaken by Reynolds Construction Company, passing and climbing lanes were also created as well as pedestrian and cyclists’ lanes.
Despite the improvements, Kampala-Masaka road has remained one of the most accident-prone highways in the country, registering between 200 and 300 fatalities annually. At the height of accidents on the highway in 2015 which claimed the lives of former Miss Tourism Finalists Norah Atim, Barbara Nakiwolo and Resty Namawejje, an employee of NTV-Uganda, members of Parliament demanded for a probe into the road designs, procurement and construction of the highway. Mukono Municipality MP Betty Namboze who moved the motion castigated government for looking on as the road turned into a death trap for “innocent citizens.” Some MPs like Butambala County representative Mohammed Muwanga Kivumbi claimed that Unra had constructed a road with slippery tarmac which partly contributes to accidents.
