“We Have No Money”- KCCA ED Kisaka Speaks Out As Ugandans Showcase Alarming Potholes In Kampala

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, Dorothy Kisaka has noted with concern the poor state of roads in Kampala city, saying they don’t have funds to fix potholes.

Kisaka’s response follows an outcry by Ugandans on social media especially Twitter who have since started a campaign to expose gaping potholes in the country’s capital.

The campaign which includes taking photos and videos of roads with potholes and posting them online has since put KCC and the government on the spot for failure to improve the city infrastructure.

In response, however, the KCCA Executive Director said it makes no sense trivializing the issue of potholes on Kampala roads yet they have no funds to fix them.

“KCCA is aware that potholes drive up road user costs through frequent vehicle repairs, long travel times, high accident rates, and others Kampala City has a total road network of 2,100KM, of which only 30% are paved roads while the rest (70%) are unpaved or earth roads. It is worth noting that most of our paved roads have served far beyond their full lifespan of twenty years and are due for overhaul or reconstruction, which explains the high prevalence of potholes and other road damages, ” Kisaka said.

“The situation has not been helped by the increased traffic levels on the roads which in turn causes increased wear and tear. KCCA is currently constrained by the limited budget provisions to turn around this situation,” she added.

“Kampala Capital City Authority routinely monitors and collects data on the state of the City roads through what we call Road Condition Surveys. KCCA makes plans to fix damaged roads based on available resources or budgets, the primary source being the Uganda Road Fund. We receive money for roads and drainage development and maintenance from the government of Uganda and from Uganda Road Fund. KCCA needs anywhere between shs75 – 100 billion annually in order to be able to effectively maintain our roads and yet we get only shs26 billion for this task,” Kisaka further noted.

“KCCA is facing challenges with budgets. This situation is not only affecting KCCA but most ministries, departments, and agencies which too have had to scale back their activities. Unfortunately for KCCA, the services we are supposed to provide such as road and drainage maintenance to avert the current situation of poor roads and flooding are in the full view of everyone hence the constant frontline criticism.”

Kisaka further noted that they have ongoing road repairs and by December last year, they had recorded an area of 8,500 square meters of potholes, spread across the five divisions.

“In December 2022, work on the potholes started in earnest with the funding that was available. KCCA covered potholes on several roads across the five divisions,” she said.

This financial year, KCCA faced a serious delay in the release of funding for both road development and road maintenance. That is the reason we could not continue with the pothole repairs, even after properly identifying areas in need of intervention.”

However, whereas Kisaka told journalists of the ongoing repairs and mentioned roads, where these works to fix potholes, have commenced, results on the ground show that the solution has been only temporary.