KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) will construct a concrete barrier around the Nile Avenue Subway to prevent vehicles from plunging into the subway.
This development comes a week after a taxi number UAW 987Y plunged into the subway and killed two people, instantly injuring 10 others.
In-charge of Transport, Planning and Management in KCCA, Joel Wasswa, told Uganda Radio Network-URN that they will construct concrete barriers around the subway at Nile Avenue to stop vehicles from plunging into the subway.
Wasswa said that KCCA had proposed having iron barriers, but they realized that they could be easily hit by the vehicles and still land in the subway.
He adds that at the moment, KCCA is in the process of a procurement cycle that will take them three weeks to have the quotations approved and another one week to procure a service provider.
Wasswa estimates that the whole process of construction will take over 20 barriers, each costing 1 to 1.2 million shillings per cubic meter. He estimates the cost to be 20 million shillings or slightly above that and to be done in a period of ten months.
He cautioned drivers to always drive at a speed of 30 kilometres per hour, which is recommended in the city. He also stated that KCCA plans to renovate the signposts surrounding that area as well as improve the humps installed along that road.
Rogers Kawuma Nsereko, the traffic commander of Kampala Metropolitan, said that drivers should ensure that their vehicles are in good mechanical condition since the police can’t do much about that spot other than the authorities of the city.
However, the drivers using the road have given mixed reactions about what should be done about the continued occurrence of accidents at the Nile Avenue Subway.
Badru Isabirye, said that KCCA should construct high humps as one is approaching the subway to help motorists reduce the speed of their vehicles. He says the humps there can’t help drivers reduce speed because they are too small.
Emanuel Bugembe, a driver at Bukasa stage, said that the government and KCCA should abolish subways in the city and build a flyover in order to control accidents in the area.
The Nile Avenue Subway has become a black spot in Kampala. In May 2010, taxi number UAJ445R lost control and rammed into the subway restaurant, injuring 8 people. In March 2012, another taxi with registration number UAL 536Z lost control and knocked down the perimeter wall of the subway.
In 2013, a Teso bus registration number UAJ 981K with 60 passengers on board plunged into the Nile Avenue Subway, but all the passengers on board were evacuated in good condition.
Due to the continued accidents, KCCA closed the subway restaurant which was operating in the area.
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