Fort Portal Roads Project Stalls Due to Lack of Funds

A project aimed at repairing major roads in Fort Portal Tourism city has stalled due to lack of funds. 

About two months ago, leaders in Fort Portal launched a project to repair Ruhandika Street road, Kaboyo road and Golf Course road with Uganda Road Fund – URF as the source of funding.  

However, midway the project, they have run out of funds yet the roads are still in a poor state. 

For instance, Kaboyo and Ruhandiika Street road are now full of dust and trenches, which has forced the residents to protest. 

Towards the end of last week, business operators along Ruhandika Street blocked the road with barricades of stones and garbage, saying the dust was becoming unbearable. 

On Monday, the residents also stormed the Office of acting Resident City Commissioner, Steven Asiimwe, and petitioned him over the poor state of the same roads, saying their businesses are getting affected. 

Robert Mutunzi, who owns a consultancy firm along Ruhandika Street, said that dust has damaged most of his equipment especially the computers. 

He said that it is now a month since Rino Construction Limited was contracted to rehabilitate the roads but they have not been pouring there water to reduce on the dust.  

Mutunzi added that they have been mobilizing themselves as the business community and pouring water on the road using basins.    

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But the interim city Mayor, Rev Willy Kintu Muhanga, says that they had expected URF to release at least 420 million shillings in the fourth quarter of the last financial year, but it never happened.   

He says that even though they had given the contractor some money, he refused to pour water on the roads saying he needed more cash to complete the task yet their coffers are also dry.

As way forward, Muhanga says that they have written to Kabarole district LC V chairman, Richard Rwabuhinga, requesting for a water bowser to be used so that they can reduce on the dust for the mean time as they wait for more funds.