By Davis Buyondo
Kyotera
Construction of the Kyotera district administration block has resumed after more than 20 months since it stalled.
In 2018, the district, had contracted Owen Construction Company Ltd to construct a three-storied administration block.
At least Ugx1.5bn was budgeted for the whole project and part of it was to come from the central government.
However, in April 2019, the project stalled after the funds worth ugx540m from the Ministry of Finance was suddenly diverted to several other projects in different sub-counties.
Fred Kalyesubula, who was the Kyotera Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), said that he had instructions from the Ministry to channel the ugx540m to other projects.
Projects such as the construction of the maternity ward at Nabigasa HC III took shs140M, construction of Kalisizo rural sub-county headquarters (shs100M) and revamp of Kyojja swamp (shs100M).
Others were the construction of Kabira roadside market (shs100M) and construction of Kasaali roadside market (shs100M).
The directive did not please the councilors who argued that the said projects had already been included in 2019/2010 financial year budget.
They further maintained that the funds are used for its original purpose of constructing the administration block.
While the activities, to which the funds were diverted, are relevant, the councilors said that focus would have been put on completing the district headquarters first, and then look for other alternative sources to fund the rest of the projects.
However, Hajji Sulaiman Samula, the Company’s Managing Director, has confirmed the resumption of the project adding that they are working at a reasonable speed to complete the contract.
He said that he had received an initial deposit of shs300m to begin the project when the financial challenges kicked in.
Samula added that because of lack of funds, he could not buy building materials and pay the casual labourers.
“My hands were tied up. I could neither buy construction materials nor pay my labourers. But the district has paid some money and construction has resumed”, he said.
He added that whenever construction works are suspended before the project is implemented, the buildings tend to get weak which costs a lot of money to fix.
However, Patrick Kintu Kisekulo, the Kyotera LC5 Chairperson, confirmed that they received more funding from the central government to complete the administration block.
“The building may be complete in two months according to the contractor. We can’t wait to see its completion,” he said.
Kisekulo said the district council proposed to name the Council Hall after the Late Vincent Ssemakula Ssetuba, the former Rakai district Chairperson, for his tireless contribution to the development of Kyotera before it became an independent district.
The district headquarters will also house the Kyotera Police Station with offices of different departments.
In the meantime, the district is occupying Kasaali sub-county buildings that belong to Buganda kingdom. They have been asked on many occasions to vacate the buildings and pave way for different projects for the kingdom.
Still, the police is renting premises in Kyotera town which they say are not good due to the nature of their operations.
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