Nebbi roads rotting away
The Pubidhi-Nebbi road that was cut off last week by floods. The road has been in a sorry state for long. PHOTO/EDDY NAM
What you need to know:
- The poor roads have affected transport and trade in Nebbi.
Ms Claire Nyamungu, a trader, has been unable to reach the market to sell agricultural produce for about one week since floods rocked Nebbi District.
Ms Nyamungu, who is a resident of Kalwang Parish in Nebbi Sub-county, says she is stuck due to impassable roads.
“I have made losses of about Shs1 million because my items perished before I could transport them to the market. Why are we paying taxes if our roads cannot be maintained? Can our leaders account to us why our roads are perpetually in bad state? We cannot do business smoothly because of the bad roads.”
Ms Nyamungu is frustrated since she is servicing a loan she took to boost her business.
Mr Patrick Opor, a resident, also says before Nebbi-Kalwang road developed gullies, transport fares were moderate.
“Even our pregnant mothers and other sick people are delayed yet some of them need emergency services. The boda bodas are over charging us because they use alternative paths to reach the main road,” he says.
Other bad roads include Erussi-Ndhew-Nebbi road that links to Nebbi central market and Nebbi hospital, Erussi-Goli road, Kucwiny-Nyaravur road, Panyimur-Parombo-Erussi road.
The chairperson of Ndhew Sub-county, Mr Bosco Okwai, says patients referred to Nebbi hospital from Erussi Health Centre III sometimes get stuck.
He says: “Our sub-county and Erussi Sub-county has been ignored in Nebbi District for so long in road networking making it hard for the business to progress. We should not blame the rain because whether it is a dry season or not, the roads have remained in a sorry state.”
Officials say
The district engineer, Mr Jean Okecha, told Monitor that they are unable to revamp the road due to lack of enough funds and high fuel prices.
“We are stuck with Shs25 million that was sent to us under road funds. This cannot do meaningful work because we have more than 289 kilometres of district roads to work on,” Mr Okecha said.
He added: “It is true that some of the roads in the sub-counties have been cut off. In order to make emergency maintenance, we need at least Shs300 million.”
Roads
Recently, the government released a meagre amount of money to various districts for road maintenance.
Shs368 million. The district annual budget for road maintenance.
Shs25 million. The amount received in the last quarter from Road Funds.
289km. The kilometres of roads in the district.
