Mbarara City Authorities are looking for 200 million shillings to repair and replace vandalized infrastructure.
Some of the vandalized properties include road equipment like road guards and road signs, bridge metallic guard pipes, solar security lights and their batteries, garbage containers among others.
The leaders say that the most recently vandalized infrastructure is the 120 million shilling foot bridge on River Rwizi that connects Katete-Ekitoobero cell to Taso village -Mbarara regional referral hospital as the most vandalized.
They say they are failing to rehabilitate most of the vandalized property due to shortage of money and continued vandalism. Mbarara City approved a 40.2 billion shillings budget for the financial year 2022/23.
Richard Mugisha the Mbarara City Deputy Clerk says they require 200 million shillings to do all the repairs on the vandalized infrastructure around the city.
Mugisha says in the 2019/20 financial year they spent 1.6 billion shillings to install street solar lights but now spend 40 million shillings annually to replace vandalized or stolen batteries of solar lights.
Richard Mugisha the Mbarara Deputy City Clerk says people use welding machines and gas at night to steal the metallic guard pipes from the bridge and other road signs posts, garbage containers, and solar batteries from their pipes living the bridge at risk of collapse.
Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the Mbarara City Mayor says the bridges that have been used for more than 20 years are now in poor state because of vandalism.
Mugisha says most of the facilities are vandalized on people’s watch because the residents lack sense of ownership of the city property and also they are sold to scrap dealers in the same communities.
Residents and Mbarara University students say the footpath bridge and the darkness in places of vandalized street lights have put their lives at risk and also turned into a death trap.
Despite the City Leaders decrying the increased vandalism, Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region Police Spokesperson says they have not registered any cases to the effect.
