The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is planning a total shut down of Karuma bridge to all traffics to facilitate major repair works.
Karuma Bridge was temporarily closed to heavy vehicles in April this year, after an assessment established defects on its structures. The government has since contracted National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) and China Seventh Railway Group to repair the defects within three months.
Minister of State for Works and Transport Musa Ecweru told Parliament Thursday in response to the growing concerns from legislators about the state of the bridge that the contractor is already making headways into the rehabilitation works. beneath the bridge and will soon start working on the surface.
Ecweru explains that the structures holding the bridge underneath had given way long ago arguing that it was just a matter of time before the bridge could have collapsed.
He notes that repair works on the surface of the bridge will soon start which has prompted the government to consider closing the bridge to all traffic in the coming weeks. While he wasn’t specific on the duration the bridge will remain closed, Ecweru hinted it could take weeks.
According to Ecweru, the government has so far mobilized 6.8 billion shillings out of the 7.9 billion shillings earmarked to facilitate the repair works on the bridge.
He also revealed the government is working round the clock to construct a new bridge over River Nile with funding from Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) but didn’t divulge details about its works.
Ecweru’s response follows the approval of a report tabled in parliament by the sectoral committee on physical infrastructure recommending the expeditious rehabilitation of Karuma Bridge.
According to the committee, the bridge’s continuous closure is a total hindrance to the development of Northern Uganda since it’s a strategic route connecting Midwestern, Northern Uganda, and West Nile Sub regions.
An assessment conducted by the committee however revealed crucial components of the bridge among them the bearings, and expansion joints were already worn out while structural cracks had developed beneath the structure.
While the contract for the repairs of the bridge was to start on July 15, 2024, the committee found the physical progress was only at I.02 percent achieved against the 2.20 percent planned.
Linos Ngompek, the Kibanda North Member of Parliament however requested the government to provide an alternative route through the newly constructed bridge at Karuma Hydro Power plant to ease transportation. He says the current alternative route through Murchison Falls National Park is long, and costly.
Speaker of Parliament Anita Among yesterday tasked the transport minister to fast track the sectoral committee reports on the state of infrastructure within Northern Uganda and report to the house in two weeks.
“We need an action taken on the roads, we need to improve on the water transport for us to have an alternative road and we need all the roads that we have given you to be handled,” she said.
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