District engineers given ultimatum on reports on status of roads, bridges

District engineers have been given up to Tuesday next week to make and present a compressive report on the status of roads and bridges in their respective districts to the ministry following the heavy downpour across the country.

The state minister for works Musa Ecweru says a number of bridges are reported to have been washed away and a number of roads destroyed.

He adds that  these reports will be presented to cabinet for consideration before seeking a supplementary budget to rehabilitate the destroyed bridges.

Bridges and roads continue to be the worst affected instructress when it comes to heavy down pour across the country.

District engineers have now been asked for comprehensive reports  on the state of affairs of different roads and bridges, the basis of  which government will mobilise funds for rehabilitation.

“We want to see first of all, how any bridges have been washed off across the country and then we can categorize them between those that are very critical and those that can wait for adequate resources to be available. Then we shall start on those that are very critical,” said the minister.

With up to 6133 km of tarmacked roads and 22,000 km of marram roads, there are concerns over the finances needed to cover all the needs on these roads.

The minister says some districts will have to make use of the available equipment and resources to especially work on the marram roads.

Each district is said to have a grader and an excavator, except 13 districts which will also receive their equipment in days to come.

“They must now revisit their work plans. There was  shs1 billion that was  sent to the districts. They had work plans but dint anticipate the torrential rains. So, we are suggesting to them to revisit their work plans and emphasize the restoration of the damaged roads,” said  Ecweru.

This comes amidst cries across the country over the degenerating roads.

The minister noted that  they have been short of funds directed to road maintenance, adding that  there are several bridges that have outlived their lives like Echwera bridge in Mitoma district, Notome bridge in Karamoja among others.

For all these, according to Ecweru,  a feasibility study has been done and will be worked on should the funds be made available.

“What is going to happen is when the resources are ready, we are going to do the piece mill. There’s no way am going to tell you that we are going to fix them once especially given the fact that even those we thought had already been done have also been washed away”.

With government set to find resources towards roads construction, maintenance and rehabilitation, there remains concerns over road use especially by the community around these roads.

Water Silting by these communities is said to be among the many factors that have degenerated roads hence a short life span.