The executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority, Dorothy Kisaka, has said that KCCA routinely monitors and collects data on the state of the City roads through what she called “road condition surveys”.
“KCCA makes plans to fix damaged roads based on available resources or budgets, the primary source being the Uganda Road Fund,” she said.
Kisaka was addressing the press at City Hall on Tuesday following a social media campaign launched by concerned citizens who criticised the sorry state of most Kampala roads.
The campaign dubbed “Kampala Pothole Exhibition” is spearheaded by Dr Spire Ssentongo, the team leader. Launched on Sunday, #KampalaPotHoleExhibition is now the most trending hashtag on Twitter.
The cartoonist and lecturer at Makerere University is pushing KCCA to fix the potholes with immediate effect.
“It’s a protest because a lot has been said on fixing potholes in Kampala, many promises have been made and in some places year in and out, nothing has been done,” Spire tweeted.
He added: “Many people keep repairing their cars’ shock absorbers and broken bumpers yet they are paying taxes in the central business district where so much revenue comes from, but the city is abandoned.”
In response, KCCA ED Kisaka acknowledged that KCCA is aware that potholes drive up road user costs through frequent vehicle repairs, long travel times, high accident rates, and others.
She said Kampala City has a total road network of 2,100KM, of which only 30% are paved roads while the rest (70%) are unpaved or earth roads.
“We cannot trivialise the issue of potholes on our roads. It is worth noting that most of our paved roads have served far beyond their full lifespan of twenty years.”
According to her, these roads are due for overhaul or reconstruction, which explains the high prevalence of potholes and other road damages.
“The situation has not been helped by the increased traffic levels on the roads which in turn causes increased wear and tear. KCCA is currently constrained by the limited budget provisions to turn around this situation.”
She said by December 2022, KCCA had recorded an area of 8,500 Square meters of potholes, spread across the five divisions. In December 2022, work on the potholes started in earnest with the funding that was available.
“KCCA covered potholes on several roads across the five divisions. These include Zzimwe Road, Katwe Road, Mobutu Road, Ggaba Road, Nsambya Estate, Bukasa Ring (Makindye Division), Kampala Road, Bombo Road, Mackinon Road, Kyagwe Road, Yusuf Lule Road, George street (Central Division); Katalima road, Naguru Avenue, Kisaasi-Kyanja road, Ntinda-Kisaasi (Nakawa Division); Masaka Road, Wakaliga road, Kalema road, Nsibambi road, Lubaga road, Kaweesi road (Lubaga Division); Bombo road, Binaisa road, Tufnel drive, Mawanda road, Nkinzi road, Kisota road Kinawataka Gayaza Road (Kawempe Division).”
Other road repair works done include sectional repairs (heavy grading) on Kiteezi Road, Bombo Road (near Kubiri Roundabout), Sadler Way (Naguru Drive), Naguru Avenue, Katwe Road, Salaama Road and Mukwano Road.