The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic development Keith Muhakanizi has ordered for partial demolition of Buramba HCIII which is under construction citing use of substandard building materials.
Last month, media reports claimed that the quality of materials being used for the construction works at the health center in Rubaya Sub County Kabale district were below the required standards.
This forced the ministry of works to constitute a multi- sectoral team to undertake technical assessment on the quality of construction works at the facility and provide guidance, an exercise that was done from 9th to 12th June 2020. The team did the site visits together with the Kabale district Political and Technical staff.
Now, in a letter dated 1st July 2020 addressed to the Kabale District Chief Administrative Officer, Muhakanizi says that during the site visit at Buramba HCIII, non confirmatory tests were conducted on the materials used in the facility’s construction. He further noted that to attest the quality of the materials, the team picked the samples and took them to the ministry of Works and Transport’s Central Materials Laboratory in Kampala for confirmatory tests.
However according to Muhakanizi, the results from the tests of the picked materials indicated that the Ultimate Compression Strengthen (UCS) for the concrete blocks picked from Buramba is too low compared to the required level.
The tests also indicated that the stone aggregate had adequate mechanical properties though were slightly larger than the 20mm size specified. Additionally, the combined sand samples had adequate silt content (3 per cent) which is within acceptable ranges.
In the letter, the ministry recommended that the construction works at Buramba HCIII should be halted and all load bearing walls demolished and rebuilt with concrete blocks that meet the minimum specifications.
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