The state of road infrastructure in Mbale City Centre may appear rosy, thanks to the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) project.   

The challenge is when you step out of Mbale city where you have to contend with roads in a terrible state of disrepair. Most of these roads are in the sub-counties that were annexed from Mbale District to form Mbale City.      

In this rainy season, transport is often paralyzed and residents cannot convey their produce to the markets or move out to access health services. Mbale City has a total road coverage of 509 kilometers.

Some of the Mbale City roads in a terrible state include: Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Road in Industrial Division, Namayonyi Road in the Northern Division, Namabasa Road, and Musoto Road, which connects to Butaleja district

Others are Busano Road, which connects to the Mbale district, Busamaga-Bufumbo Road, and Nakaloke Namagumba Road, which connects to the Mbale-Sironko Road, among others.

Musa Kassaja, the Speaker of the Industrial City Division Council, said that the roads in his area are impassable whenever it rains. He noted that the roads not only need rehabilitation but a total overhaul with proper drainage systems.

According to Kasaja, some of the potholes on the roads are filled with soil instead of marram during rehabilitation but running water washes away this soil in a short while.

Kasaja noted that the poor state of roads affects the movement of people and their merchandise. He advised that since Mbale is being prepared to be a tourism city, the road network should be well maintained to ease the movement of tourists.

Abdallah Magambo, the Deputy Speaker of Mbale City Council, said that the roads are not regularly maintained because of the government delays to release funds. Besides the delays, he was also concerned that the government cut the Mbale City Council budget.

According to Magambo, Mbale City Council should use the locally generated revenue to procure its grader instead of waiting to borrow such road equipment from the district.

Construction of the Nakaloke-Namagumba road has stalled despite receiving funding. Work on the 1.9 billion shilling project, which included tarmacking, was supposed to be complete by June 2023.

Residents, especially from the sub-counties that were annexed from Mbale District to form the city, say their movements have been paralyzed due to the bad roads. They now see no value in living in the new city and think the district was probably better.

The Mbale City Clerk, Ambrose Ochen, said that their major challenge is the lack of road equipment of their own since they have to hire from the Mbale district Local Government. The City authorities, however, plan to buy a grader soon to help in road rehabilitation in the city but for now, they wait for the finance ministry to release funds for the fourth quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

Ayub