Vehicles navigate potholes along Sir Apolo Kaggwa road (PHOTO/URN)
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa wants the Minister for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Hajjat Minsa Kabanda to explain the continuing existence of potholes in most of the roads in Kampala.
Tayebwa made the directive on Friday afternoon while presiding over Parliament’s first plenary sitting of the 2023 calendar year. During his communication, Tayebwa decried the potholes in Kampala saying that it is unbelievable to see only patching of the roads being done instead of putting to use a $288m (about Shs1.06 Trillion) loan.
“I remember in the 10th Parliament we passed a loan of over $200m for rehabilitation of over 27 roads in Kampala. We handled this loan expeditiously and it has now taken over two years. What we see is patching. The loan was not for patching, it was for reconstruction of the roads” Tayebwa said.
The Deputy Speaker who sat on the Committee on National Economy that scrutinized all loan requests in the 10th Parliament, tasked the Committees of Parliament not to wait for matters being raised on the floor of the House, but should carry out routine oversight of the different Ministries, Departments and Agencies under them.
“The Minister will also be required to come here and give a report to this House (about the progress of those roads)” he directed.
The loan in question was acquired from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Development Fund which was aimed at funding the Kampala City Roads Rehabilitation Project (KCRRP).
The project, according to information on the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) website, was planned to increase the stock and quality of strategic infrastructure in order to accelerate Uganda’s competitiveness.
KCCA is supposed to implement the project for 48 months effective July 2021 with objectives of; enhancing transport efficiency; improving air quality in the city through implementation of Scheduled Eco-Bus transit Services and broadening travel choices for non-vehicular movements within Kampala by expanding networks of walkways and cycling tracks.
Tayebwa had earlier in his communication sympathized with families of Ugandans that perished in road accidents during the recently concluded festive seasons. Nasty road accidents claiming dozens of lives and injuring several others have been reported across the country during the Christmas season.
He said that Parliament needs to extensively debate the issues of road safety in which suggestions on how to improve road transport will be made. He then directed the Minister of Works and Transport, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala to prepare a comprehensive report that will be debated when House sittings resume later this month.
“We are going to look into it deeply because if we don’t, it is going to fall on all of us. Since we are in the budgeting process, if there is anything that needs funding, then we shall agree on it” he said.
Parliament last month lost one of the legislators, the late Patrick Okabe who was serving a second term as Member of Parliament for Serere County.
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