Rubanda gets boost from American organistion to rehabilitate  Shs1.6b Kashasha-Ihunga road

At least Shs1.6 billion will be spent on rehabilitating 13.4km Kashasha-Ihunga road in Rubanda District, local government officials have said after securing support from an American development partner.

Local government officials said they had secured support from International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) under Bright Project to rehabilitate the road to ease transport and enable farmers transport their agricultural produce to markets.

While presiding over the ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, the district LCV chairman, Mr Stephen Kasyaba said each partner is expected to contribute 50 percent of the project cost, adding that the district has already allocated Shs300 million as commitment fee as required by their IFDC partners, a non-profit, public international organization that was established in 1974 with its headquarters in Muscle Shoals Alabama in the United States of America.

 “We are grateful to IFDC for the several road projects they have rehabilitated in our district with an aim of enabling farmers in the rural areas to transport their produce to market centers.  Once this road rehabilitation programme is complete we shall lobby the government to extend it to Bwindi national park to promote tourism in this area,” Mr Kasyaba said.
The district engineer, Mr John Habimana said the rehabilitation works are expected to be complete in three months.
“The scope of works include road widening to width average of 5-8 meters, grading, culvert installation, improved drainage, bush clearing, full graveling and breaking rocks on some rocky spots,” Mr Habimana said.

The Building Resilience and Inclusive Growth of Highland farming systems for rural transformation (BRIGHT) project under the IFDC program manager, Mr Ibrahim Kiganira asked the beneficiaries to use the road as a vehicle to transform them from subsistence to vigorous economic growth.

“I am sure that this road will drive the benefiting communities to their desired dreams of economic growth once its rehabilitation is complete. Better access to input-output markets, building resilience of 106,560 highland households in Kigezi, Mt Elgon and Rwenzori regions, improved household decision making, enhanced food and nutrition security, improved access to inclusive financing and enhanced sustainable land use for improved productivity are some the project objectives,” Mr Kiganira said.
 
The secretary for works at Rubanda district council, Mr Vincent Kibuye appealed to the farmers in the highland area to practice climate smart agriculture that stops soil erosion and landslides that subsequently destroy the roads during the rainy season.
“The Shs1 billion allocation from central government to Rubanda district local government is not sufficient to work on the 1600km of roads we have in our district. Our farmers must practice modern farming practices that stop landslides from damaging our roads during the rainy seasons,” Mr Kibuye said.

The Rubanda Resident District Commissioner Mr Eric Ssewandigi was the chief guest and appealed to the benefiting communities to use the rehabilitated roads projects to transform their lives economically as they implement the government’s wealth creation programs such as the Parish Development Model.