Tororo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The state of roads in Tororo district is appalling.
Tororo district has a road network of 630 kilometres and 8% of these are in a bad state with potholes making them impassable.
Some of the roads in a very bad state include the 9.3km Tororo-Kwaapa-Salosalo road which is a major link to Manafwa district, 11.7km Iyolwa-Fungwe road, Katandi-Kilewa road, Nagongogera-Nabuyoga road and Nangongera-Kilewa road among others.
The affected roads have remained narrow, some bridges collapsed, blocked drainage channels and bushy.
Andrew Peter Asaya, the Tororo district engineer says that in the last year, the state of roads worsened due to the rains and man-made activities such as sand mining.
He said that in the previous financial year, the district budgeted for 1.14 billion shillings for the roads but the government only released 800 million which was inadequate to work on even one road.
According to Asaya, there is a need for additional funding of 500 million shillings if they are to be rehabilitated and repair the bridges.
John Okea, the Tororo district council speaker said that that the poor state of the bridges has affected health emergency responses.
Charles Malinde, a civil engineer in the office of the Tororo municipal engineer attributed the problem of bad roads to the low funding. He says that money for road maintenance was reduced from 800 million to 600 million shillings.
The residents of Tororo have also raised concerns about the poor state of the roads. They argue that businesses have been affected since the movement of goods from place to another is a challenge.
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The roads are not only in bad state but impassable for motorists, others not mentioned is Nagongera- Mulanda- Iyolwa. This has affected economic activities and health services. We appeal for urgent attention.