Luwero district is hunting for Shillings 400 million to buy road equipment and fix its poor road network. The district has a road network of over 1360 kilometers. At least 628 kilometers of these are maintained by the district, 164. 51 kilometers by urban councils and 567.3 kilometers by sub-counties. However, the majority of the road network is now impassable due to heavy rains that have blocked and flooded several areas.
Over 30 roads in Luwero district are currently cut off by floods. These include Wobulenzi-Waluleta, Namunyaga-Ndeeba-Lunyolya, Kalagala-Luteete-Kibirizi and Sekamuli-Wobulenzi. Others are Kanyanda-Semiyungu, Namunsasala-Kirolo, Kakakala-Nakigoza-Ndalike, Lukomera-Kyalugondo, and Kasana-Lugogo among others.
Moses Ssemu, a resident of Kigoogwa village, says that due to the poor state of the Wobulenzi-Waluleta road, they are now using longer routes to access nearby towns to sell their produce. Livingstone Kakumba, a resident of Ndejje town, says that due to impassable roads, costs of food have spiked as traders incur extra fuel costs on longer routes.
Robert Kalenzi, the Luwero District Engineer explains that the impassable sections of the roads are within swamps and require either an excavator or backhoe tractor to help in clearing them to enable smooth flow of the water. Kalenzi says the available road equipment lacks a backhoe tractor making it difficult to respond to such emergencies in time.
He says that the district has borrowed a backhoe tractor from the central workshop in the Ministry of Works and Transport to fix the worst sections of the Waluleta-Wobulenzi road to ease the movement of goods and people.
Erastus Kibirango, the LC 5 Chairman of Luwero District explains that as a result, the district council has passed a resolution to buy a backhoe tractor at Shillings 400 million to strengthen the road unit.
Kibirango adds that apart from road works, the equipment will help in excavating valley dams and clearing drainage systems within the town councils. He says that they have already got quotations from the supplier and they expect to acquire the equipment in the financial year 2024/25.
In April this year, Parliament approved a resolution granting each district Shillings one billion for road maintenance, with the funds managed by the Uganda Road Fund. The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development disbursed Shillings 250 million to each district per quarter as part of the grant since the financial year 2023/24. However, to date, there has been no significant change in challenges resulting from a lack of road equipment to work on the roads.
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