Ugandans have always had the self-hate trait, always pointing out the many things that go wrong in this nation. While at it, they have been using beautiful photos of our neighbours Rwanda’s infrastructural development to rub salt into the wound. But it looks like that is about to change.
On Monday night, Kampala City Council Authority shared night photos of a well-lit Kira Road that was recently upgraded to four lanes to ease the traffic congestion.
The photos were shared widely with people captioning them, “Guess where this is.”
Senior Presidential Press Secretary Don Wanyama shared the images on his Facebook wall saying, “This is Kampala not …. (fill the gap). It is the recently fixed Kira Road. It’s what we call ‘Siteedi Pulogulesi’. It’s why we say kudos KCCA.”
“Looks pretty awesome. Good stuff … I would have seriously mistaken it for Kigali City,” said Kezio-David Musoke.
“Drove through there last night. Good work KCCA,” said Bernard Ology.
But some people were sceptical about all things Ugandan, saying they hope the lights don’t stop functioning in the near future.
“Seen the development, my only wish is that the lights stay forever not just for the launching period. Right direction though,” Solomon Collins posted.
Fact sheet:
The road is part of the second Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP 2) that is meant to widen and upgrade selected city roads and also improve drainage and associated infrastructure like traffic lights. 75km of existing tarmac roads will be widened while another 77km of gravel roads will be upgraded to tarmac.
This five year project is worth $183.7m and its implementation started in May 2015.
It is funded by the World Bank and the Uganda government.
According to KCCA the length of roads under construction to-date is 21 kms and they include.
Fairway Junction – one signalized traffic light junction
Kabira Junction – one signalized traffic light junction
Kira four lane Road– two signalized traffic light junctions
Mambule four lane Road (Bwaise) – one signalized traffic light junction
Bwaise Junction– one signalized traffic light junction
Makerere Hill four lane Road – three signalized traffic light junctions and one signalized pedestrian crossing.
Bakuli-Nakulabye-Kasubi four lane road – three signalized traffic light junction.
Roads and Junctions lined up for construction include:
Kulambiro Ring Road, Lukuli Road, Portbell Road, Old Portbell Road/ Spring Road, Nakawa – Ntinda Road, John Babiha/ Acacia Avenue, Sir Apollo Kaggwa, and Kabuusu Kitebi Lweza, among others.