Rukungiri– Leaders in Rukungiri district Kigezi sub-region have attributed the poor road network in the district to the lack of proper road equipment and the district’s hilly terrain, which is prone to mudslides during the rainy season.
The leaders said the road equipment allocated to the district are not enough and not suitable for the rocky and hilly landscape that is characterized by steep slopes and hills
In an interview with our reporter , the Rukungiri district district roads and bridges committee chairperson, Dr Elisa Rutahigwa said the road equipment allocated to the district is not enough compared to the size of the district.
“The road equipment that we received from the government can’t last longer because of the big size of the district. In short the district is too big to be worked on by one grader, unless the district gets another grader, the state of our roads will not change.’’ Dr Rutahigwa said.
Dr Rutahigwa who doubles as the Rukungiri municipality Member of Parliament also attributed the sorry state of roads to limited funding from the central government saying that the district is too big therefore it should be added more money to work on the roads.
‘’ The central government should give more money to big districts like Rukungiri to work on their roads because Shs 1 B is not enough to work on roads for such districts. I therefore ask the central government to add us more money for road repairing and maintenance.’’ Dr Rutahigwa added.
The Rukungiri district chairperson Mr Geoffrey Kyomukama said the district has one grader and it can’t work on all district roads in time and it is because of this reason that we have now restored to hiring which is also not dependable.
‘’ We spend a lot of money hiring excavators to open and maintain roads on steep slopes and rocky landscapes and thus the need for increased funding from the government ’’. Mr Kyomukama said.
Mr Kyomukama also attributed the poor state of the roads to the district’s terrain which is so steep and hilly.
‘’ During rainy seasons, our roads are easily washed away and destroyed by ran offs from steeply and hilly landscape but we trying all means to work on district roads since good roads are a key contributors of development.’’ Mr Kyomukama added.
The Rubabo county Member of Parliament Hon Naboth Namanya said UNRA should be partly blamed for the poor state of roads saying that UNRA people have totally failed to work on roads that belong to the central government and such roads are also in sorry state.
UNRA (Central government) roads are virtually unmotorable both during the wet and dry seasons.
He however said for road maintenance and the construction of new roads to succeed, the central government should think of equipping our district with heavy-duty machines, such as excavators and bulldozers.
Mr Charles Makuru, Rukungiri municipal council Mayor equally, said the lack of funding and limited equipment is frustrating their efforts to rehabilitate roads in the area.
‘’ The roads which are in a sorry state would have been worked upon had it not been the lack of enough road construction equipment.’’ Mr Makuru said.
He says the sorry state of the roads has compelled the municipal authorities to write to different institutions for assistance with road construction equipment but all in vain.
Rukungiri District has a total road network of approximately 345.81km of road network, 122.17km of Urban Road Network while 845.07km of Community Access Road network.
