UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Coca-Cola Beverages’ manufacturers, Uganda, have applauded the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) on commencing the long-awaited maintenance road works on the Kampala–Jinja highway. The full project stretches from the junction to Katalima road – Nakawa ‘Spear’ crossroads and continues eastwards, passing through Bweyogerere, Seeta, Mukono, and Lugazi up to Jinja.
The 72 km road maintenance works will start at the Coca-Cola Namanve and Kigunga sections. The road maintenance will restore severely distressed parts of the critical road.
Commenting on the commencement of the maintenance works, the excited Coca-Cola Beverages Africa General Manager, Melkamu Abebe, said that finally, their employees could stop worrying about the state of the road.
“We thank UNRA and the Government of Uganda for responding to our pleas. The state of the road presented very many risks to our employees and the public–-the dust was a health and infection risk to the thousands of employees working in Namanve. Besides that, the traffic often created road accident risks,” Abebe said.
“The road works will enable us, and other businesses, to go to market easier to serve the economy, which enables us to make our tax contributions. Those same tax contributions are what UNRA uses to keep our roads in good repair, hence giving us confidence that complying with taxpayers makes a difference to the communities in which we operate,” Abebe added.
The Executive Director of UNRA, Allen Kagina, applauded UNRA engineers for restoring investor confidence and for easing business logistics.
“Coca-Cola is one of the largest taxpayers in the country, employing many Ugandans and supporting many others through their business. It was important for us to enable their success and that of other manufacturers in the industrial park by providing world-class road infrastructure. We can pledge that in UNRA the manufacturers have a dependable partner,” Kagina said.
While conducting a night-time inspection of the roadworks, Kagina thanked the UNRA engineering team for scheduling the maintenance during off-peak hours to avoid disrupting traffic flows on the Kampala-Jinja express highway.
“I am pleased that the team put this into consideration and chose to work at night during curfew hours. This is further evidence that UNRA is sensitive to the needs and comfort of the public and our business community,” Kagina added.
Kampala-Jinja highway is an international road of national strategic importance. Transit traffic in East African, uses part of the Northern Corridor Route, namely Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda.
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