Why flooding, potholes in Kampala may not end soon

For about two months now, motorists who ply Bombo Road in Kampala City have had a rough driving experience trying to dodge a big pothole in the middle of the road just after Makerere Primary School main gate.

They carefully swerve around the pothole to avoid hitting cars that veer into their lane.  
This deadly spot mirrors a very big infrastructure crisis in the country’s capital where almost all roads are potholed.

For instance, an on-spot check by this newspaper last month found out that Eighth Street in Industrial Area near Namuwongo, which is less than a kilometre, had more than 200 potholes.
Statistics from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) show that only 600kms of the 2,100km road network across the city’s five divisions are paved.

The poor state of city roads is worsened by perennial floods, which have caused destruction of people property.

Information gathered by this newspaper shows that KCCA largely relies on development partners to upgrade the city’s roads and drainages because the former has no financial muscle.
One such partner that has bankrolled the upgrade of some of the city’s roads and drainages is the World Bank under the Kampala Institutional Infrastructural Project (KIIDP).

The roads constructed under this project include Makerere Hill, Kira Road and Berkeley (Bakuli) stretch on Hoima road  while those under construction are Lukuli, Bunamwaya-Lweza, John Babiiha (Acacia), Nakawa-Ntinda and Kulambiro-ring road.

The drainage channels under construction are Nakamiro in Kawempe Division and Lubigi, which is shared by both Kawempe and Rubaga divisions.

But the KIIDP project expires in June and this means that city residents will have to  brace for tough times ahead because KCCA is currently cash-strapped to finance the remaining infrastructural projects.

Worse still, the authority’s budgetary allocations have been slashed by government over the years, leaving a big funding gap. In the Financial Year 2020/2021, KCCA was allocated a paltry Shs406b, of which Shs298b came from external funders.

Apparently KCCA is still struggling to secure Shs714b, which is almost twice their current budget, to implement the Kampala Drainage Master plan which was developed in 2017.

According to the plan, Shs613b is supposed to cater for the capital costs while Shs161b will be channelled to compensation of the people who will be affected by the drainage works. Technocrats at City Hall have been courting government for the last four years to finance this master plan with little success.

The KCCA manager-in-charge of drainages, Mr Brian Bagala, recently told this newspaper in an interview that the master plan targets Kampala’s main drainage channels around the Central Business District (CBD) which are flood-prone areas. These include Lubigi, Nakamiro, Nakivubo, Kinawataka, Kansanga, Nalukolongo, Ggaba, Nalubaga, Walufumbe, Mayanja/Kalidubbi and Mayanja North.

However, Nakamiro and Lubigi drainage channels are currently being upraded under the KIIDP project. KCCA is yet to secure funds to upgrade the others.

“The areas of priority were selected basing on population affected by flooding, impact on residents, commercial and industrial activities and impact on environment, traffic disruption and area of the basin that falls within KCCA’s administrative boundaries,” he said.

However, Nakamiro and Lubigi drainage channels, whose upgrade works started in July 2020, have since stalled due to compensation claims from at least 48 families.

While touring the channels to ascertain progress recently, Kampala minister Beti Amongi said government is looking for money to compensate those affected by the works. But she didn’t give a period when the money would be available.

The fears
KCCA’s director of revenue collection Samuel Serunkuuma in an interview last Thursday expressed fear that the expiry of the World Bank’s KIIDP project will leave a big gap.

Mr Serunkuuma acknowledged that the current budget cannot finance upgrade of roads and drainages channels. He said the Shs90b, which the authority currently collects in revenue, cannot do much in terms of upgrading the city’s infrastructure.

“Some of the revenue sources like taxis are still closed and this has adversely affected our operations. We used to get road user fees of about Shs25b from taxis annually but they have not paid tax for the last four years; otherwise our revenue would have risen to Shs150b,” he said.

But Mr Serunkuuma revealed that government recently approved a loan from the African Development Bank (ADB) and that this money will be used to construct a road network of 60kms in the city. This means that with 60kms catered for, the city will remain with an unpaved road network of 1,340kms.

Mr Serunkuuma revealed each kilometre of road on average takes about Shs3b because it has to have street lights, walkways, proper drainages, and compensation for those affected.

This means KCCA needs Shs4 trillion to upgrade all the 1340km of roads in the city. Mr Serunkuuma says they are currently engaging the ministry of Finance to increase KCCA’s budget.

“We are also looking at other alternative tax avenues such as boda bodas, which don’t pay any revenue to KCCA. If we charged like a minimum of  Shs5,000 per boda boda operating in the city, we would be making a lot of money,”’ he said.

Optimism
Mr Serunkuuma is also optimistic that the new World Bank infrastructure project in the metropolitan area, which is slated to commence next year, will see more kilometres of roads constructed in the city. The metropolitan area covers Kampala, Wakiso, Mpigi and Wakiso.

Titled ‘Greater Kampala Economic Development Programme,’ the project is aimed at ensuring connectivity between Kampala and the other municipalities in the metropolitan area.
Mr Samuel Mabala, an urban planning expert, says planning at the metropolitan level is the way to go because many developments in the metropolitan impact on people living in Kampala.

However, he argues that this can only be made possible by amending the current KCCA Act so as to have the Greater Kampala Authority.

“There are services, which must be metro-wide. There are roads which run through Kampala to other municipalities in the Metropolitan which must be under the metro-wide authority. Issues to do with waste management, public transport and water shouldn’t be handled by a municipality but rather a Metropolitan matter,” he says.

Govt blamed
Kampala deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura attributes Kampala’s messy state on government which she says doesn’t care about its pressing issues during budget allocation.

“The money is in the treasury but it is being spent on things that are irrelevant. Why should we have more councillors at City Hall, new MPs and presidential advisors and we are talking about a capital city which doesn’t have good roads and drainage channels where floods are destroying lives and property?” she says.

Kampala minister Betty Amongi says they are currently in talks with the ministry of Finance to increase Kampala’s budget.

Key funding and infrastructural gaps

• 600 kms: Statistics show that only 600kms of the 2,100km road network across the city’s five divisions are paved.
• 1,500 kms: The remaining kilometres of roads that are unpaved in Kampala, according to KCCA statistics. 
• Shs406b: In the Financial Year 2020/2021, KCCA was allocated a paltry Shs406b.
• Shs714b: Apparently KCCA is still struggling to secure Shs714b to implement the Kampala Drainage Master plan.  

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