Gov’t to close Northern Bypass for Six Months for Repairs

The Ministry of Works and Transport has announced the closure of the Kampala Northern Bypass road for six months to facilitate repairs and maintenance. In a statement, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport, revealed that Stirling Civil Engineering Limited will resume maintenance work targeting a 21-kilometer stretch of the road.

“The road works focus on sections of the Kampala Northern Bypass, especially between the Kisaasi and Busega interchanges, and involve removing old asphalt, processing the base, priming, and laying a new asphalt overlay. The affected carriageway sections will be fully closed for safety and efficiency, with traffic diverted to the opposite side. The closure will be in effect day and night during the works,” Katumba-Wamala said.

He advised road users to look for alternative routes to avoid delays even though the opposite side of the road will be available for diversion. “We kindly request road users to exercise maximum caution and adhere to the traffic and safety measures in place to minimise travel inconvenience,” Katumba-Wamala said.

The announcement by the Ministry of works of the closure of the road that stretches from Busega to Namboole jolted many of its users who took to social media to wonder why maintaining just 21 kilometers requires a full six months.  “I am not an engineer but honestly 6 months for just 21KM is way too much, I’m just imagining if it was 50KM, how much time you would need 5 years?” wondered Muhindo Moses on X; formerly Twitter.

“I normally use the said stretch but hardly spot major crackdowns on the pavement, why carry maintenance on a way better road than diverting the funds and resources to far endangered and poor state roads,” said another X user Nyakoojo Tadeo.

“Salaama road needs more urgency than the Northern bypass. The confusion continues. Why not first fix alternate routes if you meant well for the country? Tell your bosses they are very bad people,” wrote Rwanyalaare Elly.

The Northern Bypass was constructed to decongest traffic jams in Kampala city by diverting vehicles that were previously using the city center to connect from Jinja Road to Masaka Road. However, over the years, it has become one of the most used roads in the Kampala metropolitan area. Sometimes it has got more traffic jams than the Kampala roads, which it came to decongest.

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