City road works to resume with minimal workers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Road construction works in Kampala are set to resume under the Kampala Institutional Infrastructures Development Project two (KIIDP 2) with few workers.

Last year, KCCA started construction of 6km of Kulambiro ring to Najeera link, 2km of John Babiiha (Acacia) road and 3km of Nakawa-Ntinda road.

Other roads were the 9km of Kabusu-Bunamwaya-Lweza road in lot two and 8km of Lukuli-Nanganda road in lot three.

However, the works stalled when the government imposed a lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19.

According to the project coordinator from KCCA Eng. Stephen Kibuuka, the lock-down was abrupt leaving both KCCA and the contractors without a plan to continue operations immediately.

Kibuuka says they have engaged the Contractors China State Construction Engineering Company and Sterling to have about 16 workers on each of the construction sites.

He says these will work on mainly box culverts on John Babiiha road and Nakawa-Ntinda road.

Kibuuka says contractors will provide camps for workers to sleep at the site. They will be tested and equipped with personal protective gear to ensure that they are protected from the virus.

Kibuuka says they limited the numbers of workers to avoid crowds.

Samuel Tusasiirwe, the social development officer at CSCEC says that they plan to resume work by the end of this week. He explains that they have also worked out an emergency plan on how they intend to safeguard workers against the virus.

The 139 billion shillings World Bank-funded project was supposed to have been completed in 18 months and 15 months for lot one and then lot two and three respectively. However, it suffered a setback due to the heavy rains that were experienced last year.

By December, the construction was at 6.2% completion for lot one while lot two stood at 6.2% and three at 4.76%.

KCCA now estimates that completion could delay for about two months. It will also require the authority to liaise with the World Bank to seek an extension of the project.

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