In April 19, 2013, President Museveni directed the Ministry of Finance to release Shs 6 billion to cater for the potholes in Kampala City. Museveni’s directive followed a public outcry over the sorry state of roads in Kampala.
Museveni said that he was told that only 30 per cent of this money had been released in this financial year, which caused roads outside the African Development Bank (AfDB) project to fall into bad disrepair, with attendant problems with traffic jams.
Kampala City has a total road network of 2,100km, of which only 646km (30%) are paved roads. When it comes to Kampala divisions and their road network length, Central has 178km, Nakawa (539km), Lubaga (464km), Makindye (502km) and Kawempe (428km).
It is worth noting that most of the paved roads have served far beyond their full lifespan of 20 years. As a result, the narrow roads with poor drainage channels and lots of potholes have become death traps for many Kampala dwellers.
A top roads engineer who preferred anonymity told The Observer that anything short of Shs 50bn cannot solve Kampala’s pothole problem.
“What the Shs 11bn can do is to simply cover the potholes with murram for a few months before rains wash away the soil,” he said.
“Kampala needs a grand plan to fully seal the potholes or at best to rework the roads because most of them are very old. So, the president’s offer is simply a drop in the ocean that can only solve temporary issues.”
Interviewed for this story, Justus Akankwasa, the director of Engineering and Technical Services at KCCA, said the authority has embarked on patching potholes on 94 roads in the five divisions of Kampala. These are about a quarter of the roads in Kampala. The divisions include Nakawa (14 roads); Rubaga (18 roads); Makindye (29 roads); Kawempe (14 roads); and Kampala Central (20 roads).
“The 13,500 square meters of potholes will be done with the Shs 5.5 billion we received on Monday from the Uganda Road Fund, but that money is not enough because most of the roads are dilapidated. We are on a 30-day campaign. We started with Gaddafi road, Naguru drive, Rashid Khamis road and others,” he said.
He said they couldn’t determine the unit cost for patching and sealing one pothole, claiming that it requires analysis from the engineers on the ground because their sizes vary.
“When released, the Shs 6 billion will help us grade and compact more roads so that people can move well,” he said.
He said the Uganda Road Fund allocates Shs 25 billion to KCCA every year, but due to the current state of roads in the city, we need Shs 100 billion because the potholes are so many. Some areas, like Katwe, need sectional repairs. There are potholes after potholes.
Interviewed for this story, Simon Peter Kasyate, the head of public and corporate affairs at KCCA, said in spite of the fact that the president’s directive was issued on Thursday evening (April 20, 2023), KCCA was yet to receive the Shs 6bn.
“You are asking on Monday… No, the money has not yet been put in KCCA’s account,” he said.
He noted that routine minor pothole repairs are carried out by house maintenance teams at the division level.
“They are currently making repairs based on where the damage causes the most disruption and destruction,” he said.
He added that the authority cannot estimate how far the Shs 11bn will go to eradicate the city of potholes.
“Potholes come in various sizes and shapes, making it difficult to quantify the unit cost of a single pothole. What can be valued is a unit cost for materials such as water, marram, asphalt, fuel, etc. Road damage is due to traffic pressure (axle load) and overuse, increased population, poor or blocked drainage, external damage to road surfaces such as that caused by traffic accidents, outright damage by vandals stealing road furniture such as reflective stripes, roads having a lifespan beyond which wear and tear sets in,” he said.
On the other hand, Kasyate intimated that KCCA intends to restrict axle load limits on top of improving drainage to minimize road damage in Kampala. According to Dr Andrew Naimanye, the executive director of the Uganda Road Fund, the fund allocates Sh25 billion annually to KCCA.
“Kampala’s road network is in relatively good condition based on the international roughness index (road unevenness), with 71% in fair to poor condition. Most of Kampala’s roads are in unmaintainable condition and require a complete overhaul,” he said.
He said most of Kampala’s core road network was designed and constructed during the colonial era with shallow traffic volumes.
Currently, the ministry of Works urban road design standards may require updating as part of the road carriageway width is taken up by boda bodas, which effectively reduce the available lane width and subsequently road capacity. The situation gets worse at priority intersections and roundabouts.
“Most of Kampala’s drainage structures are inadequate for the current surface water run-off as a result of rapid urbanization and an increase in the built-up area. This is compounded by the widespread dumping of garbage in the drainage system by the general public, which makes the already choked system less effective than it should be to the extent of a significant inability to handle even low water flows,” he said.
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