Prime
Anger as delays, dust and death plague Jinja-Kamuli Rd
A section of Jinja-Kamuli Road where the contractor makes effort to water in an effort to reduce the dust. PHOTO/DALTON WANYERA
What you need to know:
Jinja-Kamuli Road was first expected to be completed in December 2011, but the date was pushed to March 2013. However, the contractor says they need more time than planned. The residents along the road, however, are impatient and blame the contractor for visiting dust and death upon them.
It would take a very slow driver an hour to drive on a 60km stretch that also is traffic jam free. But to cruise from Jinja to Kamuli, which is about 54km, one needed about two hours. The road had countless potholes and is in dire need of repair.
In 2010, there was cause for celebration to the news that the road was to be fixed. Shs48b had been set aside and the contract awarded to Dott Services.
However, soon the residents that live along the highway realised that dust-free roads do not come that easily. They have had to endure dust, humps, deeper potholes and consequently more strenuous journeys on the road. Politicians, technocrats and local leaders have tried to calm the impatient residents who blame the contractor, Dott Services, for imposing on them that suffering.
Jinja-Kamuli Road has consequently become a scene of drama, death and dismay prompting the Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, to threaten undressing if work was not hastily done. It was indeed an empty threat. The road is the gateway to her constituency, Kamuli District, where she is the woman representative.
Done with the talking, residents moved into action, blocked the road at all major trading centres. Working like termites and sweating profusely, the youth and old, female or male, lifted stones, bricks and logs onto the road denying traffic on it for six hours.
As it has now become the norm, police swung into action serving the protestors with teargas and at one point, used live ammunition. In return, residents pelted stones and sticks at police.
“We have asked them to wet this road but they have refused. We have nothing to do but demonstrate because that is the language our leaders listen to,” a youth who was among the people demonstrating over too much dust on Kamuli Road, said.
The most recent strike,over accidents, dust and impassable road was hatched by women who have stayed back all along when other people strike. They too hurl stones, barricade the road or at least cheer the boys do it for the dusty road has soiled everything in their houses including beddings.
“Men (read husbands) have abandoned us in pursuit of more hygienic beds,” a one Hajat said without mentioning her full identity.
Death trap
Regrettably, now the anger has shifted from the dust and delays, but the regular deaths. Residents at Mafubira trading centre on this road cannot forget a five-year old who was knocked dead by a speeding taxi.
Asked about complaints by residents that the current state of the road is the major cause of accidents, Dott’s project coordinator of Kamuli Road, Mr A. Harsha said: “Nobody has gotten involved in an accident because the road is bad. There are road signs everywhere and it is the road users who should observe them.”
But residents say the road is not well marked especially at points there are trenches, humps and diversions. Hamis Ssengendo, a driver along this road says, “As a driver, you cannot see clearly because of dust and unmarked diversions. Equally, pedestrians are at risk especially in busy areas.”
Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is the government agency mandated to supervise, evaluate and monitor all activities on roads in the country. The Authority’s spokesman, Mr Dan Alinange said the contractor is mandated to water the road and keep the dust down, and blames the dry weather for the dust.
Alinange said if the contractor spends all the money on water, they would not have enough money left to complete the road. However, UNRA’s station engineer in Jinja, Mr Stephen Kisubi said, “During this time of construction, temporary sign posts have been erected signalling works ahead to curb accidents, and relatively big humps have been put in trading centres.”
He blames drivers for not following the road signs, adding that the road will not be completed very soon.
Dott services, the contractor who is said to be taking longer than expected to complete the road is said to be preparing documents seeking an extension of his time line. Initially, the road works were projected to last 18 months ending in December 2011.
Excuses
Mr Alinange, however, says the delays were caused by the review made on the road design because there was need to “change the scope” of the road to comply with the challenges on the road. “It is premature to talk about extension since the contractor has up to March 2013 on his contract to complete the road,” said Mr Alinange.
Mr Kisubi said the contractor was delayed by National Water and Umeme who took long to clear their sites and they had to shift their facilities. The weather between August and December last year did not help matters with heavy rains on one side, and of recent, a dry season which raises dust, on another. That came on top of GIBB International, the consultant who took time to deliver the final designs of the proposed road. All these factors, unexplained before, are responsible for the delays, according to Mr Kisubi.
Meanwhile, commuters between Jinja to Kamuli are paying through their noses to travel from Kamuli to Jinja as fares have shot up from Shs3,000 to Shs5,000.
It is not the first time the contractor on this project is caught behind schedule. But government has always come out to shield him. In December last year, the minister for Works and Transport, Mr Abraham Byandala said in Bukedea, “I want to assure the public that the delays are not a responsibility of Dott [Services], there were many delays on government’s part.”
The minister had gone there “to calm tempers” as angry residents took on the construction firm for failure to complete road in time. Residents [in Bukedea, Soroti, Kumi and other areas along] had been mobilised by area MPs and local politicians to protest.
Despite these delays, Dott Services has been awarded several contracts across the country to fix: Tororo-Mbale, Mbale-Soroti, Jinja-Kamuli among other roads. The company has met all sorts of criticism including calling upon the government to withdraw their contract but none of them has so far been finished in time.
