Amuru District Local Government is seeking more than 160 billion Shillings to avert flooding in Elegu town, located near Uganda’s port of entry at Nimule.
The area, known as one of the leading trading areas between Uganda and South Sudan, experiences flash floods during the rainy season, and whenever River Unyama, the Blue Nile`s tributary burst its banks. The floods have reportedly killed 10 people and destroyed tonnes of merchandise over the last five years.
Amuru District Chairperson Michael Lakony told URN that an architectural design by the engineering department indicates that they need to create a water channel and widen the Unyama River Bank to tap the water before reaching Elegu and have it diverted up to the Blue Nile in Nimule.
He notes that the proposal was submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Department of Disaster Preparedness over three years ago but no action has been taken to date, yet the district is financially incapacitated.
Besides this intervention, Lakony says that they now bank their hopes on the proposed construction of irrigation schemes along the River Unyama belt. Parliament has allocated 108 billion Shillings for the task which will be undertaken through the Uganda Development Cooperation.
Brenda Aromorach the Project Assistant of the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative (EASSI) for Elegu/Nimule border notes that averting flooding in the area should be treated as a matter of urgency.
In the interim, Lakony says that the district has partnered with Trademark East Africa to build 1,000 stalls through the Swedish Embassy and raise the ground to accommodate the mothers who are always entangled in the flooding disaster.
Meanwhile, Margaret Ayoo and Dillies Adong, traders in the area, say that they do not have any mechanism to protect themselves from the flash floods, noting that they would only take refuge in safe avenues such as roads and highlands in case of flooding.
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