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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda National Roads Authority –UNRA has promised a swift repair of the cracks along Fort Portal – Bundibugyo road in Bundibugyo district. Huge cracks developed at Mairo Kamuga Village near Bubukwanga trading center on Tuesday following a heavy downpour, which also destroyed six bridges in the district.
On Wednesday, the UNRA Executive Director, Allen Kagina inspected the affected area and promised swift response. “We came to support our team that is already on ground and we want to assure the public that we’re urgently responding to the issue. Our contractor will be here to start the restoration works,” she said.
She said the road users will be using one lane of the road for the meantime as they wait for the repairs.
The Director of Road Maintenance in UNRA, Eng. Joseph Otim, said they plan to carryout temporary works on the affected parts to enable smooth traffic flow as they carry out intensive soil investigations to ascertain what caused the slope slide before carrying out permanent restoration.
“We want to establish whether it was an earthquake or landslide. We shall also get data from our metrological center because we want a permanent restoration to avoid this problem from happening again,” Otim said.
Kagina also visited River Chabbi in Nyahuka town council that had to burst its banks and washed away the bridge that connects the town council to Busaru Sub County. The UNRA team also pledged to start fixing the bridge to reconnect transport network.
Kagina observed that there is a risk of more disasters in the area due to environmental degradation such as cutting trees, which she said leaves the road bare and prone to effects of heavy rainfall.
The Fort Portal–Bundibugyo–Lamia Road was officially commissioned in August 2015 by Kagina herself. The road works costs Shillings 217.8 billion.
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