Despite being only 23 Kilometers, it takes close to two hours to drive from Mpigi to Kampala, thanks to traffic jam.
Government in response contracted the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation together with China Railway 19th Bureau Group (U) Ltd on June 10, 2019 to construct a Shs547.5Bn Busega-Mpigi Express Way in 30 months.
The project is co-funded with support from the African Development Fund (ADF) and African Development Bank (ADB).
During the inspection of the on-going works, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport told reporters that the road will not only ease transport but also spur economic activity.
Katumba had been accompanied by a team from the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) led by Eng. Samuel Muhoozi, the Director Roads and Bridges Development.Ok
“Some of you who have been traveling on the Kampala-Masaka- Mbarara road, know what happens between Mpigi and Kyengera. So once this project is done, it will be a very big relief to the travelers because it will reduce on your time of travel between Kampala and Mpigi. And good enough, it will be linking into Entebbe Express Way and Northern By-pass and once connected, all these projects will ease the movement and Transport of goods and services,” he said
The construction, which was meant to be complete by May 2022 was hindered by Covid-19 lockdown.
Like the Entebbe Expressway, this too will be a toll road with a plaza toll plaza at Busega.
From here, it will give way to the first access roads to Nabingo, Wakimese and Kyengera. The road will continue in the swampy areas and cross the Kampala-Kasenene Railway before arriving at another bridge and later the Nsangi-Buloba junction.
It will then proceed and connect Nsanjo to Manja before arriving at the 6th bridge which further connects the Nakirebwe-Sekiwunga-Nanziri access roads before heading to the second toll plaza, proceeding to Katende-Bujuko at the 9th bridge.
The road proceeds to Kavule-Katende-Nakabiso where there will be another toll plaza then to the 12th bridge which connects to Nabunya-Lungala-Senene to Mulole-Maziba to Bikonde Police before reaching the last bridge which will finally connect to Bwanga-Nsenke-Kalagala then Seeta.
Optimism
The project is currently at 15%, which Katumba said is not very bad but also not very good “and we are going to be driving it harder because we want this project to be delivered preferably by 2025,”
After a closed door meeting held between UNRA Officials, the Minister and the Contractors, Katumba told reporters that both sides have agreed to solve all anomalies by April to ensure that the project runs faster.
“We have given ourselves some timeframe for each of us to sort out everything and by April and address some of the issues to enable the contractor now move fast,” he said adding.
“The contractor is well mobilised and the equipment he has about 305 in total, the quarry is there, Astra plant, has a lot of trucks and even his employment levels are good he has about 602 employees of whom 597 are Ugandans which is also good in terms of employment opportunities.”
UNRA says the Construction of the 4-lane dual carriage Expressway is further anticipated to operationalize and enhance the functionality and effectiveness of the other major road projects namely; the Kampala—Entebbe Expressway and the Kampala Northern Bypass.
“It will also provide for service roads like at Nabbingo connecting with the existing Masaka Highway, a link road connecting between Masaka highway at Katende and Mityana highway at Bujjuko, a link road connecting the existing Kampala-Masaka Highway at Lungala, a link road connecting Mpigi Town and a total of 13 bridges,” they said
Compensation
UNRA decried the challenges they are facing in compensation in the sections handed over to the Contractor due to; disputes over land ownership, rejection of the approved compensation amounts by certain Project Affected Persons (PAPs), Landlords and Tenants disagreements with regard to consents, failure to acquire required documents for some PAPs to enable UNRA process their compensation and Social and Cultural issues.
“A case in point is the Nabukalu ‘cultural tree’ owned by the ‘Lugave’ Clan of Buganda Kingdom but claimed by a one Katamba Hussein who put in an offer of Shs500m from UNRA. He sued UNRA and the case is in court,” they said adding,
“Despite the protracted land acquisition challenges, UNRA has advised the Contractor to prioritize works in the unencumbered sections to mitigate delays. UNRA is prioritizing compensation of PAPs within the encumbered sections to ensure the contractor’s progress /productivity is not disrupted. UNRA is also engaging PAPs with disputes to ensure that they resolve the issues to facilitate compensation while some funds for compensation have been deposited in Courts of Law for some of the parties engaged in land disputes.”
Katumba however told contractors to be strong since government will sort out all compensation issues.
“We consider all those while doing these projects and we were willing to pay them but they exaggerated the amount I am personally going to look for the Clan Leader and discuss with him because this is for a National good,” he said
