Transport paralysed as floods cut off Buloba-Nsangi road
A road user being carried by an able-bodied man to cross the Nsangi-Buloba road. PHOTOS BY SADAT MBOGO
What you need to know:
He added: "Though we don't have sufficient resources for that matter, but we shall try our level best to fix the problem. However, we need to solve the primary cause first - environment conservation."
Hajji Abdul Kiyimba, the Kyengera Town Council Chairman appealed to the public to stay calm promising them to handle their concern with urgency.
As floods continue to ravage many parts of Uganda, some areas are experiencing severe results including; deaths, making transportation a nightmare for motorists, traders to register huge losses since they cannot deliver their produce on time and destruction of houses and crops.
On Saturday the floods cut off a four- kilometre road that links Buloba to Nsangi Town Council in Wakiso District on the Kampala-Masaka highway.
The road was cut off after heavy rains that caused the banks of River Mayanja on Lake Victoria to burst, washing away all the culverts making it easy for the water to cut off the road.
Mr Charles Lugoloobi, a resident at Nsangi said floods also created several wide and shallow potholes in the middle of the road rendering it impassable for quite a number of road users including those who walk.
"The floods caused an accident two weeks ago whereby one of our traders Shamirah Nalweyiso drowned after a vehicle with agriculture produce submerged in water. We have started risking lives and thieves use this opportunity to rob from us especially during night hours," he said.
Currently, able-bodied men collect between Shs2,000 and Shs6,000 from people who want to cross the road.
Ms Annette Nakawooya, another resident in Buloba faults district authorities for neglecting the residents.
A motorcyclist being helped to cross the destructed road
"Can you imagine we notified them a month ago about this problem? They're doing little to get solutions for the situation. The impassable road has blocked us now from accessing services from Nsangi town and I can't transport my soya beans to Mpigi or Masaka using the same road but instead, I put in more money to use other roads to take my products to the market which is costly and I end up making losses," she said.
However, Mr Matia Lwanga Bwanika, the Wakiso District chairman said he has nothing to do with nature unless the environment is conserved.
"Definitely I have nothing to do because we can fill murram or soils in the destroyed parts but still floods will wash them away again. With most of water catchment areas destroyed, we shall continue to see such catastrophic incidents," he said in a telephone interview on Saturday.
When asked about the temporary solution over the disaster, he advised the public to stop tampering with nature.
"We have a problem of the so-called big figures in our country who defy the laws and destroy our environment. They construct factories, houses and carry on numerous human activities in the water catchment areas day after day. This must stop now," he said.
He added: "Though we don't have sufficient resources for that matter, but we shall try our level best to fix the problem. However, we need to solve the primary cause first - environment conservation."
Hajji Abdul Kiyimba, the Kyengera Town Council Chairman appealed to the public to stay calm promising them to handle their concern with urgency.
"I expect the district engineer to install powerful culverts across the road and the works should start next week to avoid floods and further accidents," he said.
