Kabale-Katuna road has been temporarily closed to allow the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) fix the section that collapsed at Kanyanjoka village in Katuna Town Council on Friday night.
According to Mr Augustine Kabanda, the UNRA area manager, geologists will also visit the area to ascertain the cause of the road collapse that has paralysed traffic on the road.
“We are doing our best to ensure that there is access and normal traffic flow on this road as soon as possible. The road is currently temporary closed for all vehicles until the damaged road section is fixed,” Mr Kabanda said on Sunday.
Over 200 trucks on both sides of the border were on Sunday stranded as they waited for the road works to be completed, which Mr Kabanda said will take two days.
The Katuna Town Council Mayor, Mr Nelson Nshangabasheija, said they are losing a lot of revenue due to the closure since they have been charging Shs1,000 as parking fees from every truck that parks in the town as it await clearance from the customs.
“It’s our prayer that the collapsed road section is worked on a soon as possible so that we can get back to business. Business at Katuna is dull because of diverting the long route truck drivers to Mirama hills in Ntungamo. I have visited the collapsed spot and I have been told that by next week it will be fixed,” Mr Nshangabasheija said.
There are reports that other sections of the road around Kyonyo Trading Centre, Hamurwa along the Kabale-Kisoro road and Kabaraga along the Kabale-Mbarara road may collapse soon.
Mr Kabanda said the geologists will also visit these sections will also assess these sections.
The road collapse has been attributed to the heavy rains that have pounded the area for close to a month.
The Kabale District chairman, Mr Patrick Besigye Keihwa, asked the central government to donate heavy road equipment such as bull dozers and excavators to the district so they can always respond to such emergencies.
The officer in-charge of customs at Katuna border town, Mr Simon Esunget, advised heavy duty vehicles to use the Mirama hills border post in Ntungamo to access Kigali city.
He said that during the normal working days, Katuna border clears about 300 vehicles per day but since the collapse of the road section in Rwanda, the numbers have reduced by about 52%.
