Omoro District handed over the long awaited works on the PRELNOR (Project for Restoration of Livelihoods in Northern Uganda) road which connects from Otema Almadi Public-Malaba. The remaining pieces of works included construction of two bridges and and Culvert crossing. The District leadership together with staff from PMU PRELNOR office handed over works to Emouse General Workshop (U) Limited for the construction of Chome-Odek Bridgeworks climate resilient community access roads in Lalogi and Odek Subcounties.

The LCIII Chairperson  Lalogi Subcounty Mr Alima Richard thanked the District and government of Uganda for opening the road to the land locked communities and also remembered to conclude on the major works of bridge construction which had hindered movement across the road. He emphasized to the LCI chairpersons and the community to support the contractor by offering security throughout the period.

The District Production officer Mr Oyet Jomo Godfrey who is also the Focal Point person of the project reminded the community on the purpose of the road which included promotion of massive production and easy accessibility to the market for the farmers. Mr Odoch Ten the Engibeering Assistant informed the community that the contract sum was 1,850,000,000UG for the entire works and would last a period of four month starting this January. He also emphasized to the contractor to keenly follow the BOQ. He presented an overview of the entire works including the nature of the Bridges.

The Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Madam Arach Betty thanked the Permanent Secretary (PS) Ministry of Local Government Mr. Ben Kumumanya and the Minister of Local Government Hon. Raphael Magyezi for the tireless effort of seeing that the road is fully connected to enable farming communities increase on productivity and access the market. She reminded the communities that the previous visits by the Hon Minister and the PS Ministry of LG on the same road had yielded positive results. She called upon the communities along the road to take full ownership of road and works therein since they were beneficiaries. She warned them to desist from wrong acts of stealing materials and instead focus on supporting the contractor to do quality works. Communities showed gratitude to the government and promised to do their part.

The Contractor Mr Toolit George promised the district and the community that he would do quality work as before given the fact that he was a seasoned contractor. He also called upon community to be calm and believe that work would be done within the specified period of four month.

The Project Engineer from PRELNOR Office Mr Obura Geoffrey thanked the able leadership of the District Chairperson who consistently followed up with the PS and the Minister of LG. He reiterated the fact that the PS made sure that funding was secured to complete the works especially at the time when the project was coming to an end. The project manager from PMU PRELNOR office Ms Ajok Monica equally warned the community to support and supervise the project and desist from malicious acts like theft and vandalism of materials. She encouraged the youth to get involved in the project to improve their livelihood.

The District Chairperson who finally handed over the works to the contractor applauded government of Uganda for securing funds for the completion of works on the road. He informed the communities that government through funding from IFAD was able to send the contractor to complete the works on the Otema-Alimadi-Malaba road. He encouraged the farming communities to engage in commercial farming on marketable crops.

The purpose of the 65km road is to aid farming communities increase productivity and easily transport their produce to the market. Construction works for both phase 1&2 of PRELNOR road started in 2016 and expected to end this year 2023.

Reported by:

Jackline Cherop,

Communication Officer, Omoro DLG