COMMENT: Kindly, stop blaming road engineers

COMMENT | Moses Twesigomwe | Whenever it rains to reasonable levels, the City of Kampala experiences unprecedented levels of flooding. The general public and the elite, especially the seasoned writers, are quick to blame city [road] engineers for poor [drainage] designs and construction. I do not envy Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi’s engineers.

Drainage systems on Ugandan roads are seemingly designed and are constructed to carry more volumes of storm water than the ones I have seen in highly developed countries. The Nakivubo channel, for example, is unparalleled compared to those in many cities. For purposes of understanding my reasons for this comparison, I did my graduate civil engineering education in Dublin, Republic of Ireland and I participated in the the design and construction of the Dublin – Derry highway. During that time, we made reference to practice in the UK and applied most of (if not all) their standards.

Dublin and London are constructed on what we, in Uganda, call wetlands around the river valleys of the Liffey and Thames. They do not enjoy the privilege of being constructed on self draining terrain, unlike Kampala built on the [original] seven hills. In the cities of the developed world, you either have a pavement or vegetation. Storm water flows as clean water.

In Uganda, we leave dust and mud to rule our environment. We throw waste everywhere. Storm water carries with it all sorts of objects that no size of drainage channel can handle. A clogged channel and a blocked channel do not serve functions of a drainage channel. Our storm water flows as mud as well as a transportation system for the soil/dust and waste (plastics, polythene material, etc) collected along the way. It is difficult for even the most seasoned engineer to make an accurate prediction for this occurrence through mathematical modelling or other appropriate methods.

I am very reluctant to blame engineers who design and construct our city roads. I blame the dust, mud and waste dumped everywhere. I blame strongly those who damp waste everywhere and cannot pave areas around their residences. I blame the city population for converting green areas into footpaths. I blame the law enforcers who allow wrongdoers to get away with it.

The problems I have seen are related to the deep stone pitched open channels in urban centres that collapse under repetitive stresses induced by vehicular loads (civil engineers: recall the stress bulb derived from Boussnesq’s equation); they are also dangerous to pedestrians who are likely to get injuries especially when it is dark and when running off the road pavement to escape vehicles of reckless drivers (there are no pedestrian walkways in most parts of Kampala). While it can be argued that the depth of the channels is for purposes of handling big volumes of storm water, the same volumes can be achieved by increasing the width of the channels.

Kindly, stop blaming engineers. Blame yourself when you throw away, anyhow, that used plastic mineral water bottle and other waste.