Road users plying the Tororo-Soroti highways are threatening to stage a strike to compel government to act against the slow rehabilitation of work on the highway. The work on the 147 Kilometer stretch is being undertaken by DOTTs Service, a Kampala based construction firm. Road users T claim that one and half years when the firm started the work, the state of the road has changed from Bad to worse.
The highway is full of pot holes, some stretches have been narrowed as they work on the other half, its dusty and muddy.
John Bosco Wafula, a bodaboda motorcyclist says that they are planning to erect a roadblock to block DOTTs services from continuing with their work. They say the firm is instead destroying the road.
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They say they spend heavy on repairing their machines compared to the profit they get on their businesses. They want government to terminate the contract from DOTTs Services and give it to another firm that is able to work on the road.
Evans Wanakina, a turn man operating between Malaba to Juba along the highway says they are considering bringing several trucks and park them along the road to block traffic in protest. He says their pleas to government to ensure the road work is completed as fast as possible have been neglected.
Wanakina says instead of improving on the road, DOTTs services has worsened it. He says several of their members have lost billions of shillings on properties due to accidents on the road.
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Benard Mujjasi, Mbale district LC V chairperson accuses government of failing to act against DOTTs services. He says government should be blamed for the state of the road and wonders why such a big contract should be given to a failed firm like DOTTs services. He doubts the capability of DOTTs services to handle such a big contract.
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Mujjasi says the situation of the road has become unbearable and can only be tackled with protests to draw the attention of government. He says this is tax-payers’ money being spent on the road and government should stop playing around.
He says recently all the LC V chairpersons in the eastern region summoned the minister of works and asked him to terminate the contract of DOTTs services in vain. Mujjasi says the minister promised to intervene immediately but nothing has been done.
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Attempts to get a comment from the officials of DOTTs services were futile.
But Dan Alinange, the public relations officer Uganda National Road Authority declined to comment on the delayed and alleged shoddy work. The construction of the Mbala-Tororo Highway is estimated to cost shillings 130 billion.
