Africa-Press – Uganda. More than 90 percent of project affected persons (PAPs) have been compensated, the project coordinator for the Uganda Standard Gauge Railway has said.
Mr Perez Wamburu announced that compensation arrangements for people affected by the project have been finalised to pave the way for commencement of works.
“From Malaba border to Mayuge District in Busoga Sub-region, over 90 percent of the residents displaced by the SGR project have been compensated,” Mr Wamburu said last Friday.
He added: “We are now in Jinja where we have finished disclosing to project affected persons what they are supposed to get before being paid soon.”
According to Mr Wamburu, internal family fights over sharing compensation money prompted the government to hold on.
Mr Wamburu further revealed that the process of securing a construction and supervising contractor is ongoing, adding that a consultant for the environmental impact assessment is also jointly being sought, together with the contractor, to avoid any delays.
He said at least 5,000 project affected persons have been identified and will be compensated.
Mr Wamburu said more than 1,500, mainly from the Eastern corridor, are in the final stages of being fully compensated.
Mr Asuman Isabirye, one of the project affected persons (PAPs), who resides in Bugembe, said his undisclosed compensation was “enough” for him to operate a business once it is credited to his account.
The Chairperson of Jinja PAPs, Mr Julius Kayira, described the compensation exercise as “transparent” and encouraged PAPs to vacate upon receiving payment.
Background
In May 2014, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya, signed an agreement to develop and operate a Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali and also to Juba to reduce costs of transport and also curb delays for goods in transit.
President Museveni has in the past vouched for the SGR, saying: “A 40ft container costs $3500 from
Mombasa to Kampala by road compared to $ 1,500 by rail when the standard gauge railway is ready and will only take one day. A similar container on the Peking (Beijing) – Shanghai line would cost $1,500 for transport. That is why we are working for the standard gauge railway. It is in order to lower the costs of doing business in our economy so that we attract more businesses”.
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