Locals decry disruptions from Kabale-Kisoro road collapse
The Kabale-Kisoro Road section in Hamurwa Town Council, Rubanda District, caved in last year, disrupting transport network and the entire nucleus of economic activity.
KABALE | Ugandans in the south-western districts of Kabale and Kisoro have decried delays in the completion of rehabilitation of a major road network in the area.
The Kabale-Kisoro Road section in Hamurwa Town Council, Rubanda District, caved in last year, disrupting transport network and the entire nucleus of economic activity.
“Currently, heavy trucks cannot load bags of Irish at once like it used to be," a farmer in Kisoro said.
Rubanda is a food basket, especially off Irish potatoes, in the Kigezi sub-region.
However, locals, including Sarah Asiimwe, Apollo Kampikaho and John Byamukama say since the road caved in, they have been facing challenges with transporting farm produce to the market.
The cost of transport has more than doubled for the farmers since, forcing the farmers to resort to using boda boda operators to deliver their produce in instalments.
Steven Ampire Kasyaba, the Rubanda LC5 chairman, said the contractor and Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) had promised to complete the works within three weeks when they started the works last year.
Transport has been severely affected on the road
When our reporter visited the site, traffic was heavy as pedestrians, livestock keepers, buses and cargo trucks struggled for a way through.
UNRA last year contracted Creystone Investment Ltd to take up the rehabilitation of the collapsed road and works are ongoing.
But the project has been too slow for a crossborder road network such as this one since it connects Uganda to Rwanda and DR Congo via through Kagitumba.
Locals and their leaders have appealed to UNRA to compel the contractor to speed up the works.
“There is need for UNRA and the contractor to spend up the works since the said road attracts so many cargo trucks heading to Rwanda and Congo,” Kasyaba said.
Speaking to this website by telephone on Thursday, UNRA spokesperson Allan Ssempebwa, said they were in touch with the contractor on the need for speeding up the works.
"Works along Kabale-Kisoro Road are ongoing as we are hopeful that soon the road will be complete," he said.
On May 4 last year, road users woke up to a crack at Bwara village, Hamurwa and before they could understand what was happening, the road had caved in due to mudslides.
Transport was severely affected on the day but authorities cleared things and restored a semblance of pathways.
