KCCA ED Kitaka tours city roads, says they are too old to be maintained

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Acting Executive Director of Kampala Capital City Authority Engineer Andrew Kitaka has said plans are underway to fully rehabilitate more than 65km of the city’s roads because it’s no longer economical to maintain them under their age.

Eng. Kitaka on Wednesday toured a couple of on-going projects to ascertain progress of works, where he addressed the growing unease among people across the city of the declining state of the roads.

“The issue of potholes on City roads is of great concern to us as well. Most of these roads are old & have been battered by the heavy rains we are currently experiencing—hindering their maintenance as well….,” he said.

“We are carrying out emergency repairs on all these old roads—the works are already ongoing across the City, but the ultimate solution will be to conduct major rehabilitation of all these roads because it’s no longer economical to maintain them under their age,” Kitaka revealed.

He said KCCA are in the final stages of inking  an agreement with the African Development Bank for rehabilitating 67km of City roads.

“Other prospective partnerships,” he said, included “one with the Department for International Development-UK that will yield another 65km. This will give a new face to many of our roads.”

He also revealed plans to redevelop the Old Taxi Park, that could help ease traffic congestion in the center of the city.

Following a grant agreement KCCA inked with the Netherlands Government to fund the feasibility study for the redevelopment of the Old Taxi Park,  the two teems met this week and interacted with the consultants on how the project will rollout. The team is expected to deliver the job by January 2021.

“This study will pave way for the construction of a new and more efficient transport hub. The remodelling of the taxi park is one of our critical interventions to improve the operations and passenger experience at the park as well as to increase the economic potential of the downtown area,” Kitaka said.

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SOURCE: KCCA MEDIA