BY NELLY NELSONS OTTO
LIKE the Biblical Jericho walls gave way on the seventh day after the Israelites marched around the city walls once a day, seven times while blowing their horns on the last day, the perimeter wall of the Jinja-based Total Energies Ltd Depot has finally been brought down.
There had been claims of internal contradictions at City Hall, where some shrewd officials asked Total Energies officials to ignore calls to relocate the wall arguing that a similar request had ever been dismissed by a certain investor.
Jinja City Council authorities had for months made passionate pleas to their counterparts of the multibillion energy company to peacefully pull down the wall said to have encroached on the road reserve.
This was to pave the way for the ongoing World bank-funded road renovations in Jinja, particularly the Clerk Road section that starts from inside Kirinya Prison up to Clive Road East.
It was a kind of shock and surprise that officials of Total Energies yielded to the numerous requests and reminders to voluntarily pull down the wall that is literally encroaching on the road.
“…finally the wall is down, thank God the road work is now progressing well and we hope the contractor tries to double efforts to catch up with the time lost…’,Jinja Town Clerk Edward Lwanga said.
The President of Jinja City Development Forum (CDF), David Kigenyi Naluwairo who had been irked by the saga wondered why officials of Total Energies dragged their feet on the obvious matter.
Known for his humor, the Namwendwa-born Naluwairo and former Jinja Town Clerk who served in different areas like KCCA, Mbale,Wakiso and Mbarara,among others cited a song titled The Storm Is Over by the American singer Robert Sylvester Kelly (popularly known as R.Kelly) to comment on the matter.
This was Thursday during the 14 Site Meeting by the stakeholders which always starts with site inspections led by the representative of the Consultant firm Eng John William Byaruhanga.
Ordinarily, a development partner like Total Energies would have acted without any amount of haggling or pressure because good road networks are a catalyst to their investments in the city.
The project being undertaken by Zhongmei Engineering Group Ltd9as contractor) together with consulting firm, Professional Engineering Consultants Ltd in joint venture with UB Consulting Engineers Ltd has 31st October,2023 to handover to the client.
It should be recalled that the Jinja City Principal Town Clerk John Choli Guloba had already sought legal guidance from the Attorney General’s office headed by Alex Kiryowa Kiwanuka on the impasse.
The idea was to secure a court idea to authorize a forceful pull down of the wall, which expenses would have to be met by Total Energies Ltd, something both parties have now avoided.
The burden now bounces back to Zhongmei Engineering Group Ltd to ensure that they deliver accordingly by the deadline, for anything sort of this will complicate matters because the running WB projects end on 31 December,2023 before a new phase (assuming the New York based organization changes its mind positively on Uganda)to renew partnerships.
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