Pilot for new road building technology starts in Kagera

Biharamulo. The government has adopted a new pilot technology for the construction of roads.

The deputy Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Mr Josephat Kandege, said this here on Wednesday, July 04, that building roads by using soil stabilisation technology has been proved to be the cost-effective method of improving infrastructure.

One such roads has been built in Biharamulo District, Kagera Region with funding from The Royal Embassy of the Netherlands.

A total of Sh39 million was spent on the one-kilometre road linking Rukaragata to Biharamulo town.

Addressing government officials during the event, Mr Kandege said that the pilot was the first in the country and emphasized that the road was capable of taking more than five years without being damaged.

It has also been reported that the construction of a kilometer of road in Biharamulo District using gravel costs between Sh15 million and Sh18 million, and that within three years the initiative will facilitate services.

“If the government gets more investors, maintains properly the infrastructure and plans to keep the economy growing, there will be increased productivity,” said Mr Kandege.

He noted that the five-kilometre road will serve at total of 4,000 residents from the neighbouring wards of Rukaragata and Rubondo who need community services from in and outside Biharamulo town.

The Netherlands ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Jeroem Verheul, said that the project will be handed over to constructors and engineers from Tarura for countrywide scale up.

The ambassador also said that his tour of Kagera Region was meant to find investment opportunities in agriculture and facilitate trade between the two countries.

The projects funded by the Netherlands’ government include Kagera Livestock Development Programme and rural dairy cattle projects.

“My country donates improved seeds for modern cattle and medicine to help curb the diseases that affect animals in this region,” he said.

For his part, the Biharamulo Member of Parliament in Kagera Region, Mr Oscar Mukasa said that the government of the Netherlands agreed to construct the road in response to his request that was designed to mitigate poverty in the region.

Mr Mukasa said that the district was the second poorest in Tanzania due to lack of proper infrastructure that serves the farmers.