Africa-Press – Uganda. The Minister of Local Government, Mr Raphael Magyezi, has urged technical and political leaders of the Greater Kampala to work together to ensure successful implementation of the $566 million (Shs2.1 trillion) Urban Development Programme.
Mr Magyezi said the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme (GKMA-UDP), which the World Bank is funding, will improve the infrastructure development and physical planning, among others, in Kampala, Mukono, Mpigi, and Wakiso.
“The focus of this programme is about physical planning and ensuring that the entire region of Kampala in its wider sense, including Wakiso, Mpigi, Entebbe and Mukono, develops as one entity,” he said.
“The challenge has been that we develop Kampala alone, and the surroundings alone in silos yet this is not effective. With this programme, we want to break these silos because when water is flowing from Kampala to Bweyogerere, you can’t say, you have now reached the boundary of Kampala you should stop there,” he added.
The minister was speaking in Kampala on May 17 during the handover of vehicles meant to implement the programme to chief administrative officers and town clerks of the nine municipalities in the four districts.
The vehicles were given to KCCA, Entebbe, Kira, Makindye-Ssabagabo, Mukono and Nansana municipalities as well as Mukono, Mpigi and Wakiso district local governments.
Minister Magyezi said the programme will seek to connect roads, markets and drainage systems in the four districts.
He applauded the World Bank for the loan that will finance the programme, adding that it is within the framework of Vision 2040 and the NRM manifesto.
The minister, however, warned town clerks and CAOs against using the vehicles for their personal errands.
Speaking at the same function, the Minister for Greater Kampala, Hajjati Minsa Kabanda, warned against the misappropriation of funds in the programme implementation.
“This is our baby programme in Kampala Metropolitan. Previously we have been seeing projects like road construction done in silos. You find a road is tarmacked halfway and when you ask, you are told, this is where Kampala ends, the other part which is not tarmacked in Wakiso. We want to end this,” she said.
Ms Monica Edemachu Ejua, the undersecretary in the Office of the President, said the programme will see roads, drainage systems and markets, among others, upgraded in the nine districts and municipalities.
“This is a five-year programme intended to address the challenges of the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, including traffic congestion, planning in silos and flooding. It will improve accessibility, mobility and interconnectivity through the construction of main roads where traffic flows to address the challenge of congestion,” Ms Edemachu said.
She also said the programme is expected to lead to job creation, especially for youth and women. “Under this programme, we intend to develop markets as work spaces for these economic clusters. We shall also have institutional strengthening to build their capacity to successfully implement the programme,” she said.
She said the nine vehicles handed to municipalities and district local governments is part of the institutional strengthening to ensure they can monitor the implementation of the programme.
About the programme
The Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme (GMKA-UDP) seeks to implement the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Local Economic Development Strategy, which was endorsed by the Cabinet in March 2020. The programme’s focus areas include road upgrades, drainage infrastructure, workspace establishment, and strengthening capacity for coordinated planning.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
