By Mulengera ReportersFor years, heavy rains have turned parts of the Uganda Management Institute (UMI) campus into muddy stretches, leaving motorists struggling to navigate the parking area and students carrying mud into classrooms. But that could soon be a thing of the past.The Uganda Management Institute Alumni Association (UMIAA) has launched an ambitious Shs286.5 million project to improve drainage and pave the institute’s participant parking area in a bid to end the persistent flooding and mud problem.The project, being implemented in phases, is expected to transform the parking area, improve storm-water management and make movement around the Kampala-based institute easier during the rainy season.Speaking at the launch, UMIAA President Dr. Adrian Beinebyabo said the initiative was part of the alumni association’s commitment to giving back to the institution and leaving behind a lasting legacy.“When it rains, you discover that the entire place is soaked with water, mud, and then classes eventually become too muddy because people are moving with mud in the classes,” Beinebyabo said.The first phase of the project focuses on drainage works, while the next phase will involve paving the parking area.Beinebyabo said the alumni association has already spent close to Shs20 million connecting UMI’s drainage system to the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) drainage network.The association has also worked with KCCA to improve the drainage connection, including providing four 600-millimetre culverts and repairing sections of the existing drainage system.“We are happy that they agreed that we connect,” Beinebyabo said, noting that the new system will allow water from the institute to flow into the main KCCA drainage network.Shs286m transformationUMI Institute Engineer and Head of the Estates Unit, Ambrose Ahanga-Hans, said the proposed paving works will initially cover 5,775 square metres, with a second phase covering an additional 6,550 square metres.He estimated the cost of the paving project at Shs286,495,000.The intervention is expected to address what he described as persistent parking difficulties, including vehicles getting stuck in mud during heavy rains.“The project will help us get away with the parking difficulties that we have been facing, where we have been having mud, cars getting stuck in the parking,” Ahanga-Hans said.He said the drainage works will also facilitate the efficient movement of storm water from KER Road into the KCCA main storm-water drainage system.Under the first phase, about 30 metres of drainage has been installed, while routine maintenance arrangements have been agreed upon between UMI and KCCA to keep the system functioning properly.Alumni urged to give backFor Beinebyabo, however, the parking project is only the beginning.The alumni association wants to use the initiative as a springboard for bigger projects that can benefit both UMI and its students.He said the association is working towards becoming financially self-sustaining and reducing its dependence on funding from the institute.The association plans to mobilise resources from its members, friends of UMI, institutions and other well-wishers to fund future developments.Among the projects being considered are the construction of student hostels at UMI’s branches in Mbarara, Mbale and Gulu, improved canteen and photocopying services, and eventually a recreation centre at the Kampala campus.Beinebyabo said UMI has a wide network of influential alumni, including the Vice President Jessica Alupo, senior government officials, judges, permanent secretaries and security officers, whom the association hopes to rally behind its development agenda.“We believe if we go to them and appeal, we should be in position to push a number of projects like this recreation hall in the institute and then those hostels,” he said.Bigger vision for UMIThe alumni association also plans to introduce tree-planting initiatives and invite prominent former students to mentor and inspire current learners.Beinebyabo said the goal is to demonstrate that graduating from UMI should not mark the end of one’s relationship with the institution, but rather the beginning of an opportunity to give back.He said the association intends to establish a strategic plan before the end of his second and final term as president, which will guide future alumni-led projects.As the first phase of the drainage project nears completion, the association says it is now turning its attention to raising funds for the paving works, with the aim of making progress before the next rainy season.For UMI students and motorists who have endured muddy parking lots and flooded sections of the campus, the message from the alumni is clear: the days of battling mud could finally be numbered.(For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).