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She was speaking on a local television show on Tuesday January 3 2023, saying that the public should refrain from criticising them because plans are in the works and a number of major roads have been constructed.
“We are not the most potholed city. You can’t say all of Kampala is potholed. We have some great roads which were finished last year; Stretcher Road, Kulambiro road, and many others. Yes, we have some potholes, and KCCA has a plan to cover these potholes regularly,” she said.
She noted that they are aware of the poor roads, especially 5th Street, but until their budget is increased, works on these roads will take time. The construction of one road requires a minimum of Shs5 billion and going by their current budget, only two roads can be constructed currently.
“If I dream, I would want Shs 375 billion for the roads, but that’s not going to happen because Shs 375 billion is the budget we get for everything that we do in the city. This year, our budget has been reduced to Shs10 billion for the roads,” she said.
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In response to criticism, she said city residents are to blame for the bad roads. That their poor waste disposal habits cause clogging in the already overwhelmed drainage channels leading to flooding in roads which weakens them.
Last year, she asked government to increase the authority’s annual budget for city road construction and maintenance from the current Shs26 billion to Shs1 trillion.
During the show, she said government's response will take effect starting February.
“The government has come out and provided support with a substantial amount of money for us to overhaul roads beginning in February 2023. We are covering roads in 5 divisions, a total of 69.8 kilometres,” she said.
At the moment, at least 360 kilometres of city roads need to be paved, including Salaama Road which delayed due to investigations in road contracts.