Oil Roads Boosting Roadside Markets in Bunyoro

A number of roadside businesses are cropping up with the construction of the oil roads in the Albertine Graben. 

The key roads under construction include Masindi-Kigumba-Hoima-Kabwoya (135 Km), Kyenjojo-Hoima-Masindi-Kigumba (238 Km) and Hoima-Wanseko (111 Km). The other is the 92km Hoima- Kaiso-Tonya road that was completed in 2014, as part of several infrastructural developments projects undertaken in the Albertine Region in preparation for oil production.    

The roads are already facilitating the movement of equipment to be used in oil production. Besides easing transport, the road network has also created business opportunities for communities, mostly farmers, who are tapping into the growing number of road users to set up roadside markets. They are selling different green banana’s (Matooke), Fish, Rice, groundnuts, Passion Fruits, Jack Fruit, beans, cassava and maize, among others. 

Joseph Atulinde, a vendor at Bugoigo in Buliisa district says that unlike in the past when the roads were in a sorry state and only a handful of people would use the roads, the number of road users has drastically increased as most people travelling from Nebbi now go through the same route.  

Sylvia Barungi, a resident of Bulindi in Kyabigambire sub-county along the Hoima –Masindi road says the road construction has given them new prospects for development.   

Anthony Lubega, a resident of Kabwoya in Kikuube district who operates a charcoal business along the newly constructed Kabwoya-Kyenjojo road says that many businesses are now booming given a large number of people using the roads accessing different destinations.  

Bugahya County Member of Parliament Pius Wakabi says the completion of some of the roads is a big landmark in boosting peoples’ businesses in the Bunyoro sub-region. He says that several women are now able to provide for their families from sales at the roadside markets. 

Wakabi wants the government to expedite the process of completing the remaining roads like the Masindi-Kigumba-Hoima-Kabwoya road which he says has taken years without being completed.  

“The tarmacking of oil roads; as Bunyoro we have benefited a lot. Economically, it is now easier for farmers to transport their products to different areas for market or even selling on the road side. It has really improved the income of our people in Bunyoro…”