Inadequate funding of Hoima City by the central government has left the road network outside the central business district in a poor state.
This was revealed during the Hoima City budget conference held at Kitara Senior Secondary School on Thursday.
Jacob Kiiza, the chairperson of Kibbati-Katuugo cells names the 8 kilometre road network connecting the villages of Kiryatete East, Upper, Lower, Kigaragara, Busiisi East, Kibati I, Kibati II, Kibati-Katuugo and kyabahesi as being in a terrible state since it was rehabilitated five years ago.
“Whenever it rains, the Kiryatete stream overflows, the road becomes slippery and the vehicles overturn or get stuck in the road. The road has become impassable”, Kiiza added.
The Hoima city mayor, Brian Kaboyo, admitted that the roads are in poor state because the city is underfunded.
Kaboyo said out of the sh22b required to upgrade the road, only sh15b was received which prompted the city authorities to work on a few roads outside the central business area.
He said as a result of inadequate funding, the Members of Parliament representing the two divisions-East and West in the city agreed to allocate the sh147m towards the construction of Hoima-Kibingo-Kihukya-Kaziradindo road first.
Margret Manday, the Hoima Central ward councilor who also doubles as Secretary for Works revealed that the city’s only grader developed mechanical challenges which has delayed the rehabilitation of the road network.
She added the poor state of roads in the city has been exacerbated by the rains that disrupt the rehabilitation works since the machine cannot work to avoid making the road slippery for the users.
Bonaventure Kiiza, the Hoima City Engineer, told The Albertine Journal that, out of 627 kilometres that needed to be worked on, only 11 kilometres were in good state.
Kiiza said the city plans to buy its own road equipment and it will soon do a benchmarking visit in Kira Division and Wakiso Municipality to understand how they managed to secure the four double cabin vehicles and the road construction equipment, respectively.
He explained that the Kibati road was included under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme and the design is already done but the construction has been delayed until funds are available.
Godfrey Barongo, the Vice chairperson Kibingo cell informed the city authorities that the road connecting Hoima city and Kibingo via Duhaga cathedral is also in a bad state.
Godfrey Atuhairwe, a boda-boda rider at Kinuubi-Kayembe stage cited Kyedikyo- Mparangasi, Buraru-Kyakapeya, Kijungu-Kalyabuhire and Bujwahya to Kiryatete west via Kalegete Secondary school roads who are also in a sorrow state.
He revealed that the poor state of the roads has become time consuming since the journey that usually takes 10 minutes now takes 30 minutes.
However, Kaboyo brought some relief when he told the conference that the state minister for works, Godfrey Byamukama, had promised to provide a grader and fuel for the light grading of roads in the city.