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Inside plan to control floods in Kabale municipal council
Employees of Kabale municipal council de-silt drainage channels on Nyerere Road in Central Division last week. PHOTO | ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- Some traders have been finding it difficult to access their business premises during the rainy season because of flood water that covers their shop entrances.
For many years, traders and residents of Kabale Municipality have had to contend with flooded roads, walkways and shops during the rainy season.
Some traders have been finding it difficult to access their business premises during the rainy season because of flood water that covers their shop entrances, especially on Muhumuza and Nyerere roads in the Central Division.
As a result, many traders are often prepared to make losses during this period since most customers stay away.
To solve the problem, authorities at Kabale municipal council have embarked on de-silting drainage channels ahead of the rainy season, which starts in September.
The mayor, Mr Byamugisha Sentaro, and the health inspector, Mr Andrew Biija, on Friday warned the shop owners against dumping garbage and plastic waste materials in the de-silted drainage channels, saying the offenders will be prosecuted in the courts of law for failure to observe the environmental and health guidelines.
“We have started with de-silting all the drainage channels along the Nyerere and Muhumuza roads to solve the challenge of floods in this area and when we get extra funds, we shall embark on de-silting other drainage channels on other roads,” Mr Byamugisha said.
He added that besides investing in de-silting drainage channels, his council will soon implement a beautification programme that includes planting flowers and periodic maintenance of roads connecting the peri-urban areas to the town centre.
He also said he would petition the executive director of the Uganda National Roads Authority over the failed street lights on Kabale main road that have resulted in dark spots where traders are losing their valuable properties to criminal gangs.
“Street lighting on Kabale main road was powered by solar until 2021 when the Uganda National Roads Authority replaced them with hydropower, which has its challenges of load shedding and technical faults thus leading to dark spots that provide opportunities to criminal gangs to steal from the traders,” he said.
Mr Byamugisha said the completion of the Shs1b drainage channel at Mwanjari business centre is an additional beautification programme that boosts trade in Kabale Town as it warms up for city status in 2025.
The inspector of health, Mr Biija, said the flash floods have been a common occurrence in the area because most of the drainage channels were silted with plastic materials, solid waste and muddy soils that are always carried by running water from the adjacent Makanga hill.
“While we are planning massive tree planting on Makanga hill to stop running water from carrying muddy soils into our drainage channels in Kabale town, we have resolved that each shop owner must have a dustbin from which they collect waste materials from,” he said.
“We shall close down all the shops whose owners fail to observe this directive because it is one way of stopping the dumping of plastic waste materials in our drainage channels that results in floods ,” Mr Biija added.
He said the newly created Grade One Magistrate’s Court at the municipal council offices will help the authorities in the timely prosecution of traders that violate their by-laws on health and environmental protection.
