Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa has tasked authorities at the Uganda National Roads Authority with explaining the delays in the completion of the Mpigi-Busega Expressway.
Mr. Thomas Tayebwa, who yesterday led a team of legislators from the Physical Infrastructure and National Economy committees on a fact-finding mission, inspected ongoing construction works at Katonga Bridge and Mpigi-Busega Expressway Road, a project that he said is only 30% complete.
“Myself and the current chairman of the National Economy (Hon.John Bosco Ikojo) strongly participated in the approval of the money for the Mpigi-Busega Expressway project. That was around June 2016, and we expected it to be done in three years. In 2021, it should have been commissioned. We are now in 2023, and we are seeing that the progress is extremely slow” Mr. Tayebwa said.
According to official records, the 35-kilometer project, co-funded with support from the African Development Fund (ADF) and the African Development Bank (ADB), was completed on June 18, 2019.
The 35km were contracted to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in joint venture with China Railway 19th Bureau Group (U) Ltd. at a contract sum of Shs547.5 billion.
However, addressing journalists during a guided tour, the deputy speaker noted that the delay in completing this critical road and the unexplained deviation from the original plan are posing traffic challenges.
The deputy speaker made the remarks in Buloba, Kyengera. He was flanked by UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina.
“We have seen no progress on the side of Kibuye-Busega, and the way they had designed it at that time was that Kibuye-Busega would be the one interlinking with Kampala Entebbe Expressway and Northern Bypass,” he said, adding that “if you haven’t made any progress on Kibuye-Busega, then you must find a way to make this road meaningful to serve the purpose for which we were told.”
If the main goal fails, Tayebwa warned UNRA that this project will be another effort in vain.
“We were told in 2016 that it was going to reduce the time from Busega to Mpigi to only 18 minutes. Now you cannot determine the time you are going to take on that road. You can take six hours or one hour. I have ever taken around six hours on that road. When it is like a Sunday or weekend and you are coming back, you never know, or when it is school visitation days,” Mr. Tayebwa added.
Mr. Dan Kimosho, the Chairperson of the Physical Infrastructure Committee, noted that “it is imperative that the contractors find nearby sources of raw materials to expedite the process.”
“There is an explanation to it, especially because it is going through swamps and takes a lot of time, and they get road materials from Kakiri to work on some of these swamps, and they are arguing that it affects their speed. But they are saying that within 48 months from now, the road will be complete and functional,” Kimosho explained.
As a result of the delayed completion of the project, Mawokota North MP Hillary Kiyaga (NUP) told journalists that locals living along the route are constantly exposed to flooding whenever it rains.
“The delay is affecting our people, for example, the drainage system. Whenever they are working, there has to be a drainage system, but it is not yet implemented. The more they delay, the more they have effects on the general public and people,” Kiyaga stated.
UNRA Explains
UNRA ED Allen Kagina told the Deputy Speaker and members that the delays to complete the expressway were occasioned by a cocktail of geological and technical issues.
“The original alignment was going to affect the railroad. You know the Kampala-Kasese road also passes here, and Ugandans had built a lot on the dry ground, so passing an expressway in these areas was going to affect the settlements. So we shifted onto the edge of the swamp,” Kagina explained.
Katonga Bridge
Earlier, the Deputy Speaker inspected on-going works at Katonga Bridge, which is under reconstruction, and was impressed by the progress made so far.
The essence of this crossing is to divert traffic from the old condemned bridge, which was washed away by floods in May this year before being reopened to light traffic in September.
The crossing at River Katonga acts as a gateway for cargo trucks and passenger vehicles heading to the capital city and other neighboring countries like Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
UNRA director of roads and bridges, Eng. Samuel Muhoozi told the deputy speaker and members that the steel structure will be complete by Christmas this year.
Efforts are in high gear to have a standard bridge erected by the contractor (China Communications Construction Company Ltd.).
“We are calling it a temporary bridge because it is not going to stay there for good. As you have seen, we are just installing guard rails, and even vehicles can pass, but we don’t allow that due to safety measures in place. So within two or three weeks’ time, we shall open this road. The contractor going to do the new bridge is the one doing all this,” Muhoozi explained.
