Africa-Press – Uganda. Kitgum Municipality authorities have confirmed that Kitgum Central Market is set to be commissioned at the end of this month.
The market is being constructed under the second phase of the Market and Agricultural Trade Improvement (MATIP) programme, with funding from the African Development Bank.
While the completion status stands at 99 percent, authorities say the remaining works include landscaping and clearing the site.
Mr Ayub Kisubi, the Kitgum Municipal Town Clerk, said they have asked the Ministry of Local Government to send a technical team to help in verification. “As per the last meeting that we had last week, the facility is in the final stages and the contractor promised that by the end of this month, it will be done,” Mr Kisubi said.
He added: “About the allocation of stalls, it is a process which we will do in conjunction with the Ministry of Local Government. I wrote to them requesting to give us a team to work with so that we prepare the vendors.”
The modern market, which will host more than 1,000 vendors, has two blocks; A and B. It will have lockups, stalls, banking institutions, a beauty care centre, parking spaces, storage facilities, and open spaces.
Mr William Komakech, the district Resident District Commissioner, said the municipal authorities have set up a committee to ensure proper allocation of the stalls.
“We don’t want chaos and issues that erupted about other markets in other districts to appear here. We have a committee in place to ensure transparency during the allocation,” Mr Komakech added.
Background
In 2019, the government awarded the contract to Chinese State Construction Engineering Company Limited (CSCECL) to construct the facility valued at Shs23.8 billion.
The works were to last 24 months, with June 2021 as the commissioning deadline.
The untimely delivery of raw materials and the outbreak of Covid-19, however, stalled the works.
By April 2021, only Block A had achieved more than 50 percent physical progress, while Block B sat at less than 40 percent.
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