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Nyendo-Masaka road in sorry state
A section of the Nyendo-Masaka road with potholes. PHOTO/FILE/ALI MAMBULEE
What you need to know:
- In 2018, government gave a green light to Masaka Municipal council authorities to use some funds under the World Bank funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme Project (USMID) to fix part of the potholed Broadway road, but this never happened.
Nyendo is a gateway to Masaka Town from Kampala city. Despite being the most populous division of Masaka Municipality, the poorly planned town has over the years been dotted with a poor road network.
Nyendo-Masaka road, a 7.7kilometre stretch that connects Nyendo suburb to Masaka Town and Kijjabwemi roundabout up to Masaka-Mbarara bypass has been in a sorry state for many years.
Motorists from Kampala that ply the Total highway roundabout have felt the pinch of driving on the potholed road.
Currently, motorists avoid driving through Nyendo Town, but rather opt for the Masaka-Mbarara bypass via Alex Ssebowa Road to connect to Masaka Town. But that implies driving a longer distance of five more kilometres to get to the town centre.
Both government and municipal officials have previously promised to fix Broadway Road in vain. A couple of months ago, Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) indicated that they were set to rehabilitate the road but no works have since commenced.
In 2018, government gave a green light to Masaka Municipal council authorities to use some funds under the World Bank funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme Project (USMID) to fix part of the potholed Broadway road, but this never happened.
In a May 4, 2018, letter dated the then Minister of Works and Transport, Ms Monica Azuba Ntege, said the reconstruction of the Nyendo-Masaka Road was long overdue.
“I note with concern the poor state of the three Masaka Municipality roads and they are the busiest and commend your efforts on having them worked on including considering the use of USMID additional financing on the 13.43km of the road,” she said.
The letter, which was also copied to the Finance minister, and the Minister of Land/ Housing and Urban Development, among others, granted permission to the municipality to work on two of the three sections of roads in Nyendo Town.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to grant Masaka Municipality permission to do the works on Nyendo-Cathedral Road and Villa Maria Road. This will be under the technical guidance from the Ministry of Works and Transport,” the letter further reads.
Mr Godfrey Kayemba Afaayo, the Masaka Town mayor, said: “In the past years, Unra was not priotising the project until March this year when they started the procurement to get a contractor. We are hopeful that by end of June, actual construction will commence in the first quarter of 2020/2021 Financial Year.”
However, Mr Michael Nakumusana, the chairperson of Nyendo-Sennyange Division, said he still doubts government’s commitment to fixing the road.
“Unless concerned people come out and hold government, that road will remain in poor state,” he said.
Ms Julius Mwanje, a taxi driver on Masaka-Nyendo Road, said most of the accidents on Broadway road are a result of the many potholes.
