Museveni says Kampala traffic jam is as a result of “rich" Ugandans owning many cars

President Museveni has said attributed Kampala traffic jam to rich Ugandans owning many cars that bring about congestion especially in the city.

Museveni made the remarks on Wednesday which launching the construction of the first phase of the Kampala flyover at Clock Tower today.

“Because you have so much peace and you are very rich, you have many cars that cause jam,”Museveni said.

“Because you are rich and have many cars, you keep on moving from one bar to another and others keep on rumour mongering and circulating in the city causing jam.”

Museveni said that in the past, government has concentrated on opening up the various parts of the country through tarmacking of highways and other major roads connecting the various border points of the country.

He said that this has gone on for a long time , adding that since  all the eight points(North, East, West, South,North East, North West, South East and South West) are now tarmacked, they can concentrate on towns and cities around the country.

“We are now intensifying on improvement of infrastructure in towns and city centres,”he said.

According to Museveni, traffic jam especially in the city centre is caused by three categories of people including those working and staying in the city, others moving upcountry but pass through the city and those involved in movement of goods and services within the city.

He said that infrastructure like the Kampala flyover will help greatly reduce traffic congestion in the city.

“When such infrastructure like the flyover and the Standard Gauge Railway are completed, the traffic jam will be no more. Those going upcountry will no longer need to come to the city centre,”Museveni said.

“Those involved in movement of cargo no longer use roads but rather the railway. Roads will now be left for those who have nothing much to do but rumourmongering.”

Museveni applauded the Japanese government for their cooperation with Uganda that dates over 50 years ago that he said has contributed greatly to the country’s development.

He noted that the Japanese government through the Japanese InternationalCooperation Agency(JICA)started with installing street lights at various junctions including Nateete and  Nakawa among others, adding that with time they have funded more projects like the newSource of the Nile bridge in Jinja.

Works Minister, Eng.Monica Ntege Azuba said the Kampala

flyover project will help create a free way for traffic passing through the

city centre.

“It will contribute to economic development of the country, traffic

control in Kampala and also beautification of the city,”Azuba said.

She said that though the project will be overseen by UgandaNational Roads Authority, Kampala Capital City Authority engineers will also come in handy to get expertise that they would later use to maintain the flyover after its construction.

The

project

The project financed using a loan from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency(JICA)will see a flyover cover  Clock Tower, Shoprite, Nsambya  to Mukwano junctions.

This project will be handled by

a joint venture between Shimizu and Konoike, both Japanese contractors.

The flyover project will also

entail improving the existing road structure including widening of the 0.5

kilometre Queen’s way from Shoprite to Katwe and widening of Nsambya road.

New pedestrian bridges are also expected to be put in place at Clock Tower, Kibuli and Shoprite whereas the two junctions at Clock Tower and Shoprite will also be worked upon as part of the first phase of the Kampala flyover project that will take 36 months.

The second phase of the Kampala flyover will see a 2.9 kilometre flyover constructed from Kitgum House to Jinja road junction.

This phase will also see Mukwano, Jinja, Yusuf Lule, Access and Nile Avenue roads widened and improved so they can carry more traffic.

The second phase of

the flyover will see traffic jam reduced on Jinja road.