An Ebola scare has brought construction work on the Mbarara -Isingiro road to a standstill after the Chinese contracted to carry out work fled the area en masse last week.
The Chinese contractors under the China Community Company halted work immediately after news spread late last month that a resident of Masha Isingiro district might have died of Ebola.
A 51 year old man was on Friday, July 27th, 2012 rushed to Mbarara regional referral Hospital with Ebola like symptoms.
Lawrence Banyangiraki of Masha Isingiro district was admitted with red eyes, cough, and high fever, abdominal pain, vomiting and bleeding from the eyes.
His blood sample was later transferred to the Uganda Virus research Institute in Entebbe but tested negative for the Ebola virus according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Christine Ondoa.
Despite declaring the patient Ebola free, the Chinese working in Isingiro district were not reassured and as of last week abandoned their duty station..
The Uganda National Roads Authority area engineer in charge of the south western region, Asaph Abenitwe admitted that the Chinese had abandoned work a week ago for fear of contracting Ebola.
Abenitwe said work on the road had been expected to resume either this week or next week on Monday, after the ministry of Health declared the area Ebola free.
The Chinese construction agency, China Community Company, which holds the contract had already started work on the road before the Ebola scare.
UGX 120 b was earmarked by the Government of Uganda for the 75-kilometer-road which is expected to be complete in 3 years’ time.
