Uganda’s capital Kampala needs to start on a programme of road repairs – image courtesy of © Marko Bukorovic, Dreamstime.com
The poor state of the road network in Uganda’s capital Kampala is causing traffic delays as well as damage to vehicles and crashes. As a result, the city authorities are spending heavily on patching potholes and improving road surfaces, as well as other maintenance work. The city has a road network of some 600km and an official estimate is that some 75% of this, 450km, is in poor state of repair.
A combination of increasingly heavy traffic volumes and flooding caused by inadequate drainage has made the city’s road system even worse. Many drains have been blocked by rubbish that has not been cleared away, increasing the risk of flooding after heavy rains. And the drainage issue has been made worse by work for utilities, with excavated spoil not being cleared away afterwards. Road surfaces are in a poor state across the city, with potholes and edge failures now very common.
A finance package worth US$260 million is being provided by the African Development Bank (ADB), which will pay for repairs to around 70km of Kampala’s roads. The work will be managed by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and will help reduce the current chronic traffic delays. However, more funding will be required to pay for the large quantity of road improvement works still needing to be carried out.
Roads being repaired include 6th Street, 7th Street, 8th Street, Alice Kaggwa, Ggaba road, Lubiri ring road, Old Kira, Port Bell, Spring road and Yusuf Lule. The tendering process for many of the respective contracts is underway at present.
The city is benefiting from a new strategic plan that will upgrade its overall transport network. This commenced in 2020 and will run until 2025.
