To restore traffic that has been halted since March 2022, construction has finally begun on the crumbling Kaboloi Bridge in Pallisa District.
The bridge that connects the counties of Pallisa and Agule was completed in 1958, according to Kevin Kaala Ojinga, the Pallisa District Woman MP, and its collapse hampered social and economic activity in the areas it served.
After bringing up the matter in the House of Representatives, according to Kaala, she collaborated with her colleagues Polycarp Ogwari (Agule), Derrick Orone (Gogonyo), Sam Otukol (Pallisa), Richard Oseku Oriebo (Kibale), and Patrick Duchu, the chairperson of the Pallisa District, to submit a report to the Ministry of Works and Transport.
“Despite the lengthy delay, I am glad the Ministry took it on. It’s our pleasure, but as the adage goes, better late than never,” Kaala added.
The state minister for works, Musa Francis Ecweru, said that the ministry took over the bridge’s construction since Pallisa District was cut off from the rest of Teso.
The metallic culverts being constructed, according to Ecweru, are there to draw attention to the road; more robust box culverts will be designed, though.
“The investment at Aleles will not stand its benefit to the region if Kaboloi is not worked on,” Ecweru said. Aleles Bridge was built with a lot of funding from the government to connect Pallisa and Ngora Districts.
As a local investor who founded the Agule School of Nursing and Midwifery, David Ochwa, the former MP for Agule County, claimed he discovered it to be extremely expensive to transport students from school to Pallisa General Hospital.
“We could use 30 litres of fuel to travel from the school to the hospital, but because we meander through Kibale, the omnibus uses 70 litres every day,” Ohwa remarked.
The broken bridge, according to Frances Atukot, a resident of Agule Town Council, caused bodaboda prices to soar from Sh4,000 to Sh8,000, forcing the majority of pregnant mothers who were supposed to be brought to Pallisa General Hospital for better care to risk giving birth at home.
Four expecting mothers have died since March 2022 as a result of inadequate care.
Casual worker Peter Ochuli said that they had also gained temporary employment as a result of the bridge’s construction.
The 20 of us working here are guaranteed payment, creating jobs rather than sending people from Kampala to work here, said Ochuli. “As youth, we used to gamble and play Ludo,” he continued.
