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Bukakata, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The increasing water levels of Lake Victoria have affected the construction works of Nyendo-Bukakata road. The road connects Masaka district to Kalangala Island.
In December 2018, the government hired Arab Contractors Uganda Limited to undertake the tarmacking of a 41 kilometres road at 165.5 billion shillings. This is part of the US$ 27 million loans obtained from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and OPEC Fund for International Development in Africa-OFID.
However, the project works that commenced in January 2019 have slowed down due to the rising water levels of Lake Victoria.
Andy Zhao, the Deputy Projects Manager of Hunan Roads and Bridge Construction Group Company Limited; a firm that was subcontracted to execute the works says they have failed to progress due to the heavy flooding of the construction route.
He explains that the road stretches through several permanent swamps that have direct links to Lake Victoria. He adds that they have halted works on several sections of the road as they wait for the water to settle down.
According to the project design, the contractor is required to raise the road on completion to at least 30 centimetres above the highest water level to avoid possibilities on the road being submerged especially during rainy seasons.
Margret Babirye, the firm’s Public Relation Officer indicates that they are finding it hard to work as per set the conditions due to the ever-rising water levels.
She explains that besides slowing down the progress of work, they rising water levels have also increased the project’s costs due to changes in the bills of quantities and the structural designs which were not anticipated at the time of seining the contract.
The contractor has now been forced to fill up the flooded swamps with soil to enable people who had been trapped by floods at Lambu, Kachanga and Kaziru landing sites, to enable them to regain access to the mainland and flee from disaster.
Dr Caliste Tindimugaya, the Commissioner for Water Regulation and Management at the Ministry of Water, projects that the floods could get worse due to the rains and increasing inflows from many rivers that pour into Lake Victoria.
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