With the implementation of a shs2.1 trillion Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme (GKMA-UDP), government hopes to change the face of the four greater Kampala area districts of Mukono, Mpigi, Kampala and Wakiso .
GKMA-UDP is a program funded with a loan of up to US$566 million (Shs2.1 trillion) from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group.
The program will be implemented in Kampala, Entebbe, Kira, Makindye-Ssabagabo, Mukono and Nansana municipalities as well as Mukono, Mpigi and Wakiso district local governments.
Speaking during the handover of nine pickup vehicles to town clerks and Chief Administrative Officers(CAOs) in the respective areas, Local Government Minister, Raphael Magyezi said the five-year program will support infrastructure development in these areas.
“The challenge has been that we were developing Kampala alone and the surroundings alone, in silos yet this is not effective. With this program, we want to break these silos because when water is flowing from Kampala to Bweyogerere, you can’t stop it. You can’t say, you have now reached the boundary of Kampala you should stop there. We therefore must make sure the facilities in these four districts are improved but working together,” Magyezi said.
“The focus of this program is about physical planning and ensuring that the entire region of Kampala in its wider sense including Wakiso, Mpigi, Entebbe and Mukono develops as an entity much as we have entities which are specific. You can’t develop Kampala without developing Mukono.”
He explained that the bigger objective is to develop Kampala together with the neighboring areas.
“Otherwise, we would be making mistakes if drainage stops only at Lubigi or if the road stops only at Bweyogerere. It is important that the entire area is interconnected.”
The minister however warned CAOs and town clerks against misuse of the vehicles.
“These are not vehicles to ferry charcoal or be used to go to farms. These are vehicles for technical and political supervision of this program. Whereas the vehicles are being handed to town clerks and CAOs because they are the custodians of our assets, they should be reported to the political leaders so everyone is aware the program has started.”
The Minister for Greater Kampala, Hajjati Minsa Kabanda hailed President Museveni for initiating the program that she said will give a new face to the greater Kampala Metropolitan area.
“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,” Minister Kabanda said.
Monica Edemachu Ejua, the undersecretary in the Office of the President explained more about the program.
“This is a five-year program intended to address the challenges of Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area including traffic congestion, planning in silos and flooding. It will improve accessibility, mobility and interconnectivity through construction of main roads where traffic flows to address the challenge of congestion,” Edemachu said.
“ We also realized that one of the biggest problems in the greater Kampala Metropolitan Area is unemployment especially for youth and women. Under this program we intend to develop markets as work spaces for these economic clusters.”
