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Uganda: Rains Damage Kampala-Jinja Highway
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New Vision (Kampala)
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Joel Ogwang
Kampala
THE heavy downpour of the past days has taken its toll on Uganda's roads. The rain created a deep fissure on the Kampala-Jinja highway, the main import and export route to Kenya and the seaport of Mombasa.
The hole, the size of two drums, located in a wetland in Kigombya village, about four kilometres from Mukono town, occurred on Easter Monday.
"Good enough, there was no vehicle passing by when it occurred," said Jackson Muwanika, one of the policemen diverting the traffic to one lane. "We would be counting dead bodies now."
The pothole, about four meters deep, has covered half of the highway from inside. The police cordoned off the scene with a tree trunk and red and white tape.
Muwanika suspected a culvert had been damaged by the torrential rains.
"I went to the works ministry headquarters on Monday and was told engineers would come fix it but no one has shown up," he said.
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With heavy trucks passing, there are fears that the damage will get worse. Mukono-Kayunga-Jinja road would be the only alternative route in case the road becomes impassable. Norman Muwulize, the Buikwe West MP who visited the scene, decried poor maintenance of roads by the government.
"This is unfortunate. It might be a natural catastrophe but the Government has to ensure its infrastructure is in good shape by regularly maintaining them," he said, adding that he would submit a report to parliament.
By press time, six traffic officers had been deployed to control the traffic flow.
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