Makerere University will spend about Shs 300 million to repair the damages caused by the fire that broke out at the Mary Stuart female students’ hall as well as giving it a general facelift.
Four days ago, the ground floors of the multi-storeyed Mary Stuart hall were gutted by fire said to have begun from the canteen area. Fortunately, the students reacted in time and notified the Police Fire Brigade which responded quickly to arrest the fire.
The Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has said that the university is set to spend Shs 300 million to give the hall a facelift following the incident.
This follows an emergency meeting convened by the members of the University Central Management committee after the incident to ascertain the damage caused and discuss interventions. Given the concrete walls with which the structure was built, the damage was minimal.
Before the meeting, the Vice Chancellor accompanied by the Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance and Administration, Dr. Eria Hisali and the Dean of Students toured the residence.
The team instructed the Estates and Works Department to assess the damages. They also directed that the few students who were residing in the hall for their recess term be relocated to ComplexHall.
“We are going to spend Shs 300m to repair damages and work on the general facelift,” Prof Nawangwe told journalists on Tuesday.
“We were lucky, no serious injuries. One students got a fracture but she is being taken care of. I want to thank students for their vigilance. They came out from Lumumba hall and were the first to put out the fire,” he said.
Meanwhile, the university is also considering reinforcing its current capacity to deal with fire emergencies.
Prof Nawangwe says that the university will procure more fire fighting equipment as well as ensure the existing ones get better maintenance.
“This has opened oir eyes. We have carbon dioxide fire fighting equipment but they haven’t been sufficient. At Mary Stuart, we had only three of them”.
The university will also install fire hydrants in the strategic locations that are prone to fire accidents.