KCCA ED Kisaka: "Kampala is not the most potholed city"

The Executive Director Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Dorothy Kisaka has said there is nothing much the authority can do to improve the state of the roads in the city without enough funding.

She urged the public to stop criticising the authority over the poor state of roads in the city, saying that the government is working to change the situation.

There has been heightened criticism of the state of roads in the country’s capital with many complaining that the numerous potholes actually contribute to traffic congestion and damage vehicles. 

Kisaka also blamed the city residents’ poor waste disposal habits which see them throw polythene and organic food into drainage channels clogging them. When it rains, water flow ends up on the road weakening the structure and creating potholes. 

The small drainage channels have also been blamed for the problem of poor roads networks since they are not wide enough to carry large volumes of rain water whereas construction in wetlands has also ruined waterways.

Speaking during NBS Morning Breeze on Tuesday Morning, Kisaka confirmed that there are some roads with potholes especially around 5th Street, and this she said is because some of them  are old and they are due for overhaul.

“We are not the most potholed city. You can't say all of Kampala is potholed. We have some great roads which were finished last year; Stretcher Road, Kulambiro road, and many others. Yes, we have some potholes, and KCCA has a plan to cover these potholes regularly,” she said.

She stated that there is need for more funding if all the roads are to be covered, adding there their budget has been reduced.

“If I dream, I would want Shs 375 billion for the roads, but that's not going to happen because Shs 375 billion is the budget we get for everything that we do in the city. This year, our budget has been reduced to Shs10 billion for the roads,” she said.

She explained that the reconstruction of a road in the city needs a minimum of shs 5 billion, saying that the city is a collective work.

“The government has come out and provided support with a substantial amount of money for us to overhaul roads beginning in February 2023. We are covering roads in 5 divisions, a total of 69.8 kilometres,” she said.

Last year while highlighting the authority’s 2022 achievements, plans and challenges, Kisaka asked the government to increase the authority’s annual budget for city road construction and maintenance from the current Shs26 billion to Shs1 trillion.

At least 360 kilometres of city roads need to be reconstructed because their service life has expired.

Despite growing concerns about the condition of city roads, Kisaka said they will start to carry out the construction of several roads in February. The city intends to pave 69.7km of the roads in Kampala in total, 31 roads.

This will help in addressing pothole issues on roads in Kampala.  KCCA listed over 30 roads that will be improved including Salaama Road, which was delayed due to an ongoing investigation of road contracts.