Hundreds of residents in Bwamba County, Bundibugyo District, have welcomed the long-awaited construction of the Nyahuka-Mirambi Bridge, 15 years after the government first pledged the project.
The Shs7.5 billion bridge, contracted to Ruwangananyama Engineering Services Limited under the Ministry of Works and Transport, is expected to be completed and commissioned in April 2026.
The 20-meter, single-span structure stands 9.36 meters high, with a projected lifespan of 100 years, and will serve more than 600 residents who rely on the route for economic activity.
Locals said the old wooden makeshift bridge had repeatedly been swept away by floods, forcing traders and farmers to take longer alternative routes or abandon trips to markets altogether.
‘As residents who have lived here for years, the completion of this bridge will be a game-changer. People who didn’t want to use the longer alternative route of more than two hours were forced to walk through the water to cross the river-impossible for anyone carrying goods,’ said Ms Agnes Kabugho, a resident of Mirambi Sub-county.
She added that the lack of a reliable crossing had undermined agriculture, with farmers abandoning cocoa and other crops because buyers could not reach the area.
‘Middlemen would use longer routes to reach us and end up buying our produce cheaply. Even those with land could hardly sell to investors because vehicles could not access the area. But we now have hope that development will resume,’ Ms Kabugho said.
Bundibugyo District Chairperson Robert Tubakuniirwa described the project as long overdue.
‘It is going to greatly help the community. We have been facing serious flooding problems, especially during the rainy seasons, and farmers have struggled to access Nyahuka Market. We are happy the government finally secured funds to begin the construction,’ he said.
He warned that the contractor must ensure quality work, noting that several bridges had been destroyed by floods in 2019. ‘Failure to do so, floods will destroy the bridge in the shortest time. Here we are in a flood zone. We don’t want to waste the taxpayers’ money,’ Mr Tubakuniirwa said.
The Assistant Commissioner for Drainage Structures in the Ministry of Works and Transport, Eng. Okullu Jeroboam, explained that previous delays were caused by funding constraints.
‘The ministry was financially constrained and could not intervene immediately. But as the body responsible for planning and developing national road infrastructure, we recognized the bottleneck this posed for residents who have struggled to transport their goods to the market. This intervention is timely, and we hope the construction will greatly improve livelihoods once completed,’ he said.
Bundibugyo remains one of Uganda’s hard-to-reach areas, regularly affected by floods and landslides.
Several roads and bridges are still impassable, including a section of the Fort Portal-Bundibugyo road that recently sank, leaving communities reliant on improvised access.