The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, has urged the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to speed up work on the Busega-Mpigi motorway project.
Tayebwa said this as he led a team of legislators from the Physical Infrastructure and National Economy committees to access the progress on the Busega-Mpigi project as well as the Katonga bridge construction along the Kampala-Masaka Highway.
He questioned the delays in the road construction, yet parliament sat with the Chairman of the National Economy, John Bosco Ikojo, to approve the money for the project in 2016.
“Myself and Ikojo strongly participated in the approval of the money for the Mpigi-Busega Expressway project. That was around June 2016, and we expected it to be done in three years and commissioned in 2021. We are now in 2023, and we are witnessing extremely slow progress,” Tayebwa said.
Tayebwa, however, pledged Parliament’s collaboration with UNRA to provide the funding required to speed up the reconstruction, stating that they would have loved to pass through a clear road that is fully finished on their way.
from what we were told in parliament.
The UNRA Executive Director, Allen Kagina, reassured the team that the completion of work will be in one year, saying that the delay was caused by the floods that overwhelmed the Katonga Bridge in May 2023.
“A combination of geological and technical problems caused the delays in
finishing the motorway,” Kagina said.
She added that a temporary steel bridge has been installed across the Katonga River on the Kampala-Masaka Highway, and all vehicles will have access to the Katonga Bridge within three weeks.
The 35-kilometer road was contracted to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in joint venture with China Railway 19th Bureau Group (U) Ltd. at a contract sum of Shs547.5 billion.
