Mbale city residents pool resources to build own road
MBALE – After living for years without a good road, residents of four villages in Industrial City Division, Mbale City have decided to construct one so that they can have easy access to places like markets, schools, health centres, and places of worship.
The residents living in former Bukasakya Subcounty, say traveling in the area using a vehicle or motorcycle has been difficult due to a lack of a good road, despite the area being densely populated.
This prompted them to mobilise resources so that they can construct a good road. The 4 kilometres road built connects Zabanyanya Village to Bukasakya Sub-county headquarters via Marale trading centre, also found in Industrial City Division.
The road construction is being supervised Eng. John Wekesa Wambogo, the Director ICT in Operation Wealth Creation [OWC] contributed Shs 40million to the project. Other residents who didn’t contribute the money are providing hard labour.
Ms Jessica Kimono, a businesswoman said, they have been struggling with the road for over 20 years
“The road we were using was impassable especially when it rained, I thank Mr. Wambogo and other community members for rescuing us,” Kimono said.
Joshua Wamundu, an elder, says that the people of Bukasakya especially traders and patients will now smoothly move on the road.
“This place has potential but it has been ignored by leaders, it was impassable not until we sat as a community to find a workable solution,” Wamundu said.
Bukasakya Sub-county is densely populated with over 10,000.
According to Wamundu, the majority of the population in Bukasakya grow coffee, cassava, rice, beans, cassava, and sweet potatoes as food and cash crops but cannot take them to markets because of poor roads hence selling them cheaply.
Collins Wakuwa ,a boda boda rider, said the road would become impassable whenever it rained.
“The place was impassable. I am happy that pedestrians, Boda boda riders can now use the road without any fear,” said Wakuwa.
He said the road has greatly improved movement in the area, adding that the poor road had deterred development in the area.
Eng. Wambogo, a resident in the same area, said the road project will help the community once completed, especially expectant mothers.
“The road will form the shortest link to the trading centres and Mbale town enhancing the seamless movement of both pedestrians and motorists. This road will steer development since some traders have been cheating farmers because of lack of access to markets,’’ said Wambogo.
He thanked residents who allowed the road to pass through their land.
“Since people wanted good services, they allowed the road to pass through their land. The residents were disadvantaged in terms of accessing markets, health centres, and education facilities,” he said.
The Mbale City Council Spokesperson, James Kutosi, said the city does not have enough money to work on all its roads.
“Previously we are receiving Shs1.2 billion from Uganda Road Fund but last financial year we received Shs700 million and it comes in phases,” Kutosi said.
He said they used to have a 123-kilometre road network in the former Mbale Municipality but the length increased to 370 Kilometers the municipality gained city status, bringing in areas that were formally outside the municipality boundaries.
“We need more money to enable us to work on these roads,” he said, adding that Mbale city has about 43 kilometres of tarmac roads.
https://thecooperator.news/kikuube-residents-pick-tools-to-repair-road/
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