Concern as newly-built  road develops potholes

 The damaged section of Nabuyonga Rise Road in Mbale City.  The potholed section of the road has since become a black spot for accidents. PHOTO / PHOEBE MASONGOLE 

What you need to know:

  • Zhong Mei, a Chinese company, was in 2018 awarded the contract to complete the final works, which included construction of the drainage, pavement and installation of solar lights.

Residents and leaders in Mbale City have expressed concern over the newly constructed Nabuyonga Rise Road, which has developed potholes.

The affected road is among several others, which were commissioned by President Museveni in 2019. The others are Republic Street, Mugisu Hill and Pallisa Road.

The roads were built under the first phase of the Uganda Support to Municipality Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme at a cost of Shs26 billion.

Plinth Technical Services Company Ltd constructed the roads but did not complete the works on schedule.

Zhong Mei, a Chinese company, was in 2018 awarded the contract to complete the final works, which included construction of the drainage, pavement and installation of solar lights.

But when Daily Monitor visited the road on Monday, we found huge potholes spread across the road near Nabuyonga Bridge.

Residents said the cracks, which started developing last year, have kept on widening, making the road impassable.

The potholed section of the road has since become a black spot, with many boda boda riders occasionally being knocked by trucks.

Mr Akim Magomu, a boda boda rider, said the bad section of the road has resulted in several fatal accidents.

“The potholes have forced motorists to use one side of the road, which has resulted in accidents. Many have been admitted,” he said. 

Ms Esther Nandudu, a resident of Kichafu Cell, Northern Division, said the only solution is to reconstruct the road with a design meant for heavy trucks.

Locals said small cracks have also been cited on Mugisu Hill Road.
While addressing district leaders in Mbale City last week, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said road defects point to a possibility of shoddy work.

“Even in Mbale, people have reported shoddy work, especially on Nabuyonga rise, but l am going to carry out a forensic audit and see what happened. But if I find out that money was eaten, they must answer,” Ms Nabbanja warned.

Ms Nabbanja said failure by the city engineer and leadership to do their work could have resulted into the shoddy work.  

“It’s the role of the city engineer and leaders to make sure we get value for money but they are not doing their work, that is why contractors are doing shoddy work,” she said. The Mbale City town clerk, Mr David Kyasanku, however, blamed the cracks on the heavy duty trucks yet the two roads were constructed for light vehicles.

“Each day, 600 heavy trucks from Malaba go through those roads and this was not anticipated before when the roads were being constructed,” he said.

The Plinth Technical Services director, Mr Ben  Misaga, however, told Daily Monitor that the affected roads required a design with DR ( dump rock fill) materials to enable it to carry heavier loads.

“I advised the concerned officials that we need a different design where we could use hard core materials but they didn’t approve it,” he said, adding that as company, they have constructed other roads in Tororo and Soroti, which are still intact. 

The officials of Zhong Mei couldn’t be reached for comment but city officials said they contracted the company only to do final touches on the already tarmacked roads by the Plinth. 

Background
The roads were built under the first phase of the USMID programme. Plinth Technical Services Company Ltd constructed the road but its contract was later terminated over failure to complete the works on schedule. Zhong Mei, a Chinese company, was in 2018 awarded the contract to complete the final works.