Technical report for capacity improvement of the Kampala northern by-pass.

Abstract

The Kampala Northern Bypass(21Km) was constructed partly as a Programme to reduce the severe transportation constraints along the northern corridor route for both national and regional road traffic. Due to lack of funding the project was done in two phases with phase one comprising of sections with dual carriage and some with single carriage. Phase two has been constructed in where 17.5 km of the road was constructed as single carriageway road and another 3.5km as a dual carriageway road between Hoima Road and Gayaza Road. The first phase was completed in 2009 with financing support from the European Union. The second stage of construction was to complete the dual carriageway and including construction of bridges and intended to upgrade the 17.5 km single carriageway section to a dual carriageway, to complete the dualization of the Kampala Northern Bypass to a 4-lane dual carriageway road, Construction of 3 new footbridges at km 10+380, km 14+020 and km 18+020, and Construction of 6 new grade separated interchanges at Sentema - km 2+900, Hoima road (km 5+350), Gayaza road (km 8+650), Bukoto - Kyebando road (km 10+750), Ntinda Road (km 13+250) and Naalya (km 16+900). Phase 2 was started in 2014 and the initial finish time was 2017 with the project duration of 36 months plus the twelve months of the defect liability period. However, the project completion date was delayed and the actual practical completion date was on January 2022 with contract price changing from over 67.4 million euros to 106.5 euros plus 83.7 billion Uganda shillings. The major factors that hindered progress and lead delays on the delivery of the projects include failure by UNRA to fully handover possession of site to the contractor in time. This was attributed by delayed acquisition of project land due to land disputes, absentee landlords and design improvement and changes that were necessary for the proper completion and functioning of the road”. Among these was; additional drainage structures which were incorporated into the project based on a hydrological study undertaken such as the high-capacity drains at Kyebando and upgrading Sentema junction from a widened roundabout to a grade separated interchange to ensure future free flow of traffic on the bypass and the connecting roads. The other component was the Kampala-Entebbe expressway tie-in; Realignment of a section of 112m between the start of the Kampala – Entebbe expressway and the start of the Kampala Northern Bypass; as well as reconfiguration of the section between Gayaza road interchange and Bwaise interchange for purposes of enhancing the efficiency of traffic flow along this section.