By Isaac Wandubile
Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) officials led by Executive Director Allen Kagina began the inspection of works on the oil road projects yesterday with a tour of 93km-Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi-Kakumiro.
Also participating in the three-day field visit are MPs from the Infrastructure Committee of Parliament, and State Minister for Economic Monitoring Peter Ogwang.
The completion rate of the $138m road projects is currently about 65 per cent. While the completion date had been scheduled for April 2021, with the project having commenced in April 2018, challenges such as those occasioned by the Covid19 pandemic have seen the dates revised to November 2021 and February 2022.
The project, being undertaken by Chinese Contractor China Wu Yi Co Ltd with a loan from China Exim Bank, will see the Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi & Bulamagi-Igayaza-Kakumiro (93Km) Road upgraded from gravel to paved (Bituminous) Standard.
According to details of the contract, China Wu Yi Co Ltd is responsible for undertaking topographical and cadastral surveys of property for compensation along the proposed road; preparation and implementation of an Environmental and Social Management Plan; detailing the positive and negative effects on the environment with suggested mitigation measures; undertaking all types of investigations, including topographical, geotechnical and hydrological investigations necessary to fully permit comprehensive designs to be completed; as well as undertaking a feasibility study on the alignment options and preparation of a detailed engineering design for the selected alignment alternative for the proposed road.
The contractor is also responsible for undertaking construction of the agreed road works and preparation of built drawings; as well as seeking review, comments and approval of the Engineer for all the above assignments as the works proceed.
Traversing the districts of Kikuube and Kakumiro in Western Uganda, the road is being developed to ease the exploration and production of oil in the region as the nation prepares to reap big from black gold. The road starts at a junction off the Kyenjojo-Hoima Road in Buhimba Trading Centre, about 11Km from Hoima Town, and ends in Kakumiro Town. The existing road is a Class C gravel road of width 45m and it crosses 85km of swamp.
The traffic on the road is mainly small to medium trucks with few heavy trucks. The average annual daily traffic (AADT) as per the 2017 figures is 788 for the section from Buhimba to Bulamagi (51km) and 102 for the section from Balamagi to Kakumiro (42km).
Regarding land acquisition and compensation of Project Affected Persons (PAPs) for the project road UNRA has done a commendable job. For the section Km 00-000 to Km 16-000, 93 per cent of the PAPS have been compensated, for Km 16-000 to Km 46-000, 98 per cent of the PAPs have been compensated and for Km 464000 to 81+000, 98 per cent of the PAPs have been compensated. For Km 81-000 to Km 93-000, 97 per cent of the PAPs have been compensated.
The UNRA team is still working on resolving a few issues to do with land acquisition such as a school and a rock through which the road should pass. For the school, while UNRA is offering Shs150m in compensation as recommended by a Government Valuer, the owner wants Shs600m for 25 decimals that is required. For the rock, the owners want Shs1bn while UNRA is offering Shs25m for the same.(For comments on this story, call, text or whatsapp us on 0705579994, 0779411734, 0200900416 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).