Museveni commissions Kasese central market, Ishaka-Katunguru road

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has commissioned the shs14.9 billion Kasese central market in Kasese town and the 58-kilometer Ishaka Katunguru road.

The President on Tuesday took time off his campaign schedule to commission the market as he kicked off his campaign trail in the Rwenzori and Tooro sub-regions.

According to Geoffrey Ettedu from the Ministry of Local Government, the new market was constructed under the Markets and Agriculture Trade Improvement Project (MATIP) and implemented by the Ministry of Local Government.

“The market will accommodate about 1,000 vendors and house multiple food stalls, restaurants, banks, clinics, salons, fruit and vegetable stands, butcheries, and a daycare centre. It consists of 467 stalls and 311 lockup shops,” Ettedu noted.

The state of the art market is also installed with CCTV cameras, public address system and flat TV screens for adverts and news updates.

This is the fifth market that President Museveni has commissioned the last one month with others in Soroti, Busia, Lugazi and Tororo, all constructed under the Markets and Agriculture Trade Improvement Project.

Museveni on Tuesday also commissioned the 58km Ishaka-Katunguru road which is part of the Kasese –Mbarara road which is a major tourist link from Ishaka town in Bushenyi district to Kasese through Rubirizi district and Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Speaking at the commissioning of the road, Museveni urged UNRA to always use the country’s natural resources like rocks to do such construction works .

“UNRA people are complaining that the soil in this area is very soft and makes it hard to construct roads. I urge you to get stones from Karuma which can harden these roads because they belong to government,” he said.

He noted that the road will not only facilitate trade but also a tourism enabler since South Western Uganda is a hub for tourist attractions, including the Queen Elizabeth National Park among others.

The shs118 billion road whose construction was fully funded by government of Uganda was done under the National Development and Maintenance Program.

President Museveni has always boasted that it is because of earlier wise decisions that government can do everything it wants, including infrastructure development using its own money. We also constructed the Kampala-Masaka, Kabale-Katuna and the Mbarara- Ishaka- Katunguru roads using our own money without borrowing. Even when we borrow we payback because no one can lend you when you won’t pay ,” he said in Rukungiri on Monday.