By: Derrick Senyonga

NAMANVE

The UPDF Engineering Brigade has commenced backfilling the OPM Namanve Store yard.  This was confirmed during the weekly inspection exercise  which included  Mr. Lwasa Robert, the Principal Systems Administrator (PSA) and Susan Akuma, the Principal Assistant Secretary both from the Department of Finance and Administration.

2nd Lt. Turyasingura (right) explaining a point to the Inspection Team (Mr. Robert Lwasa (2nd right) and Ms. Susan Akuma(2nd left))

2nd Lt. Chrispus Turyasingura of the UPDF Engineering Brigade explained that the backfilling shall involve spreading of murram and laying of hardcore before blinding  and later laying of pavers in order to make the ground firmer and stable to handle the heavy traffic during items delivery and collection  from the store.   He added that “We are using both murram and hardcore so that we can keep the water down. If it wasn’t to contain the water, we would have put murram alone.   Through the soil, water is pulled upward by a process call capillary rise.  Laying of the hardcore stops that upward movement of the water. ”

On whether the rains had affected the progress of the works, Turyansingura said that whereas they hadn’t been affected by the rainy conditions thus far, it was better to spread/level the murram when it is dry since compaction can’t be done well when the soils are dump.

However, Lwasa expressed disappointment that the coping and pointing had not been done as had been expected since the previous inspection.  The Engineer explained that coping and pointing are finishing works which are better done after all the ground works are completed.

It was also noted that whereas the backfilling had started, it was slow and it was reported that the rate of backfilling was affected by the unavailability of equipment and the slow speed of the delivery of murram.  The contractor was asked to ensure availability of the required equipment and also supply of materials so as to deliver the project in a timely manner.

Key highlights/Next step for actions

  • Management to provide additional resources for execution of the project.
  • Designs to incorporate a Security quarter guard.
  • OPM Stores Management team to work with the Contractor on strategy of management of inventory when working on the stores main structure commences.

END