Leaders in the districts of Kabarole and Bunyangabu have decried limited funding, which they say has crippled service delivery and development.
They said in an interview reporters with this week that the road fund budget was severely affected, leading to their failure to maintain the roads.
For instance, Bunyangabu with more than 600 kilometres of roads has for the last two quarters of the Financial Year 2022-23 received Shs143 million, compared to Shs1.1 billion in 2017-2018 budget.
In the subsequent years, they received Shs764 million under the road fund.
The Bunyangabu District chairperson, Mr James Ategeka, said in the current financial year, they had proposed a budget of Shs764 million towards road maintenance, but only received Shs143 million.
He said of Shs143 million, Shs73 million will be used to maintain district roads, covering 600 kilometres while other money has been allocated to town councils and sub-counties to maintain urban and community access roads.
“As a district, we have been in a big dilemma since this financial year started. We have not worked on any road because the money is little and yet all our roads are in a sorry state. Last financial year, we received only 40 percent of the road fund budget of Shs764 million,” Mr Ategeka said.
He added that they have allocated Shs10 million to Kibiito Town Council, another Shs10 million to Ruboona Town Council and Shs11 million for Rwimi Town Council. They also allocated Shs3.9 million to Kyamukube Town Council and Shs3.9 million to Buheesi Town Council. The eight sub-counties have been allocated Shs29 million.
Mr Ategeka further said for the district to fully work on all roads, they need extra Shs4 billion because of the nature of soil and terrain.
Some of the roads that the district had planned to work on this financial year include; Kicucu-Karambi road that connects Kisomoro and Nyakigumba sub-counties, and Kyakatabazi-Kakyinga-Kakoga road connecting Rwimi Town Council to Kakyinga Town Council. Others are Kanyasi-Kibota-Mitandi and Kasunganyaja-Kaina-Mujuju roads.
The bridges that are in a sorry state and need repair include Mahooma Bridge connecting Kabarole and Bunyangabu districts, Nysoja Bridge connecting Kisomoro and Kiyobya sub-counties, Mahumburi Bridge connecting Nyakigumba Town Council to Kibiito Town Council.
In Kabarole District, Mr Richard Rwabuhinga, the district chairperson, said they have 390 kilometres of roads but in the last two quarters of this financial year, they only received Shs390 million, which he said is inadequate.
“This money cannot rehabilitate the roads. What we can do is to only grade and shape roads but putting marram will be a farfetched dream to the district. That is why most of our roads are impassable,” he said.
The sub-counties were allocated as follows; Karagura Shs3.3 million, Busoro Shs6.3 million, Kasenda Shs5.9, Kichwamba Shs4.2 million, Mugusu Shs2.6 million, Harugogo Shs3.9 and Kabenda Shs3.1 million.
“We need partners to work with local governments so we can ask the central government to send us more money for more budget allocation,” he said.
Due to the steep, rocky and slippery terrains, these areas are at times cut off from the rest of the district, especially in rainy seasons. There are at times mudslides and collapsed bridges hence affecting the government services.
Challenge
The Uganda Road Fund was established by an Act of Parliament in 2008 to finance routine and periodic maintenance of local government roads.
The institution has, however, overtime decried inadequate funding from the central government, which has crippled road maintenance at districts.
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