Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has inaugurated the City Roads Committee which will oversee the maintenance of the road network in the capital city.

The Nakawa East Member of Parliament, Engineer Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo, was named the committee chairperson. The appointment of the committee comes at a time there is an outcry by Kampala residents over the deteriorating state of roads in the city. 

The new Kampala City roads committee was unveiled following a meeting at City Hall attended by Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, the Executive Director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Dorothy Kisaka, Members of Parliament from Kampala, City Division Mayors and Town Clerks.

The city roads committee is one of the strategies KCCA has come up with to solve the issue of poor maintenance of roads in Kampala.

In the last few weeks, there has been an outcry by Kampala residents over the deteriorating state of roads in the city following the heavy rains.

Nakawa East MP, Engineer Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo was chosen as the chairperson of the city roads committee while Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago will chair the roads authority. The two leaders and their teams will hold a meeting on 08th May 2023 to harmonize their operations and also consult with the minister of finance on the city roads budget.

KCCA Executive Director, Dorothy Kisaka said that the committee will oversee road construction and the team will work closely with MPs from Kampala to clear any misunderstandings.

Lukwago noted that the funds government allocates to KCCA for road construction and maintenance are woefully inadequate. He said there is now consensus that the funds should be enhanced in the 2023/24 financial year budget.

Lord Mayor Lukwago said that 78 billion shillings was earmarked for road construction but it was later drastically cut to 48 billion shillings which was further slashed to 10 billion shillings.

He also noted that KCCA now gets 20.3 billion shillings from Uganda Road Fund for road maintenance instead of 24.9 billion shillings. And even after President Yoweri Museveni directed the finance ministry to urgently disburse six billion shillings to KCCA to work on the heavily potholed roads, Lukwago claims that KCCA received only 5.5 billion shillings, with the balance pending.

Cathy