KAMPALA – Property mogul Sudhir Ruparelia was on Wednesday forced to use boda-boda to beat traffic jam in Kampala, raising concern over the continued pileup in the city.
The chairman of the Ruparelia Group of Companies had to jump on boda-boda so as to arrive to his office early for business. The businessman was seen around Kololo, dressed in his usual white attire.
Many city residents have expressed concern over traffic jam in the city. A world Bank study says those traffic jams are costing Uganda over US$800m (over sh2.8trillion) in lost Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This is equivalent to the combined budgets for the ministries of Health at sh1.2 trillion, Agriculture at sh863b and ICT at sh300b, plus a well-equipped secondary school from senior one to senior six, complete with laboratories at sh600m, and probably a primary school at sh400m. Alternatively one could construct 4660 well equipped secondary schools.
Mr Charles Ssembabulidde, the Kampala Metropolitan Traffic Police spokesperson, notes that traffic jam worsens when parents are either dropping children to school at or picking them up.
“For the [period] parents are taking back the children to school, the traffic jam [is] expected. The lights at some new junctions have not yet created a solution but they will soon be helpful,” he said.
He adds: “The other thing is that we have indisciplined drivers who don’t want to obey traffic rules. However, we are already cracking down on them. But also, some parts of the roads have been undergoing reconstruction like around Shoprite of Entebbe road.”
