DEAR JESUS, PLEASE DO NOT RETURN. JUST SEND YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER. WE GOT PROBLEMS. ---------------------------- Having reasonably succeeded in the areas of garbage collection, reduction of traffic and paving city roads, KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi anticipates enormous infrastructural projects in the year 2015, Chimp Corps report. “We are excited as we begin 2015 as we prepare to implement key projects in the City,” says Musisi in a brief document seen by ChimpReports on Thursday. Parliament recently approved a World Bank loan of US$175 million to Government for the second Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP) which Musisi says will enable the implementation of several landmark projects. She says this will significantly improve on the city’s form of reconstruction and upgrading of over 150km of roads and signalization of up to 32 traffic junctions in the city. Kampala dwellers have for long complained of poorly marked roads and pitiable drainage systems. Last year saw city residents struggle to cope with floods that swept through Kampala’s streets and tortured traders in downtown. But Musisi says KCCA “will also update the City Cadaster Maps, work on several drainage channels, establish a traffic control center and implement a comprehensive street/plot naming and city addressing system. You will no longer have to rely on big trees and Boda Boda stages for direction.” She expects implementation of these construction projects to commence soon and that they will likely turn the city into one construction site. “This is likely to come with some inconveniences and we call upon the public to bear with us and support these interventions,” says Musisi. “As in any restorative surgery, there will be some inconveniences and discomfort to you as we dig up, build and improve the city. So when you are diverted or delayed as you travel or even deal with the dust emissions, think about the pleasant and hopefully bad driving experience you will have when we are done with the works,” she adds. Musisi further vowed to intensify the city authority’s compliance and enforcement efforts particularly in the areas of revenue, trade order, pollution, development control and illegal structures as sufficient notice and time have been given to all affected parties. Regarding the excessive force used by brutal KCCA officials in dealing with vendors and demolition of illegal structures, Musisi says, “we also will continue to streamline and professionalize the enforcement structures to offer a better service to you and KCCA.” 2014 was not all that rosy for Musisi and KCCA. A toddler died at the City Hall premises after being knocked by a car, touching off public outrage. There also were allegations of abuse of office and financial impropriety. Ousted Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago last year wrote to donors highlighting the mess at the City Hall which he said has led to loss of huge sums of donor and tax payers’ money. In his letter copied to the World Bank, IMF, European Union and other donor organizations and countries, Lukwago highlighted how dangerous it was extending loans to KCCA which he said is marred by crooks and has no governance structures and accountability systems in place. “Ever since KCCA was transferred to be under the office of the President, huge sums of money have been swindled and unaccounted for. In fact the President now acts as the Lord Mayor who summons councillors to State House and gives them orders,” Lukwago noted. “The KCCA budget is skewed in such a way that won’t realize the much desired development of the city because over 70 percent of the appropriations are channelled towards public administration and payment of staff members.” But Musisi said then that over the last 3 years “we attained some impressive achievements not only in terms of the tangible outputs that we have accomplished but more importantly in restoring hope for our residents and partners.” She noted:“Under our 3 year minimum recovery programme we implemented a series of flagship programmes that included corporate rebranding and restoring public trust, streamlining the financial management systems, increasing local revenue collections, recruitment of a competent and highly motivated staff, recovery of institutional assets, rehabilitation of key infrastructure like roads, drainage channels, health centers and schools, increasing garbage collection and cleanliness of the city, enforcing compliance to basic law and order as well as greening and beautification.” Musisi says KCCA is “committed to fighting corruption in KCCA and I’m appealing to each one of you to support us to maintain our professional image please do not offer or give bribes and kickbacks to our staff. In the event that you have any occurrences of KCCA staff involved in corrupt practices, please call us on the anti-bribe hotline number 0794662222 or send mail to [email protected] which is directly into my mail box. We are determined to stamp out and make corrupt practices very risky for KCCA staff.” Future In 2015, Musisi reflects on the past to contemplate on what the future holds for Kampala. “Considering where we are coming from as a City, we have made some significant improvements in Kampala, but there is a lot to be done to get Kampala to what a twentieth century capital city should be. At KCCA, we are very passionate and totally committed towards this cause, but we cannot do it alone. Each one of you as Ugandans and other residents must contribute to the transformation efforts, by complying, Initiating, contributing and participating, actually moving from viewing Kampala matters on your TV screens and asking yourself ” what have I done? What can I do to make Kampala better? Together we will transform our Kampala…the City of our Motherland,” she observes. Musisi emphasises the last three and a half years of KCCA have brought a series of changes that are impacting Kampala City and have improved the physical conditions in the city and also brought hope and higher expectations in Ugandans. She points out KCCA has made it easier for one to pay city dues by setting up the e-Citie. “This is an exciting revenue management system which is making it easier for you to make payments to us. We are doing away with the bank queues and bulky payment documents by enabling you to pay KCCA using your mobile phone or Internet banking,” says Musisi. “Right now, you can pay your taxi monthly charges, development fees, yellow fever fees and starting 12th January 2015, trading license fees, hotel tax and later on property rates using e-Citie. We aim at zero cash transactions by the end of this year to ensure the direct remittance of 100 percent of our collections into our revenue accounts in Bank of Uganda,” emphasises the ambitious KCCA boss. KCCA revenue collections have grown from Shs30bn to Shs71bn in the last three years (a growth of 132 percent.) Health Musisi says KCCA is continuing to improve health service delivery in the City with over 295,000 outpatients, 13,247 deliveries and that over 29,000 antenatal care visits were recorded in their health facilities last year. “Upgrading of Kawempe and Kiruddu Hospitals with the support of African Development Bank is on schedule and completion is expected this year. The two hospitals will increase our inpatient capacity by over 400 beds. Construction of a maternity ward at Kitebi Health Center was completed as well as a Renal Unit at Kisenyi Health Center. We also have five state of the art dental units in each of the five Division,” she adds. “Garbage collection has increased by over 70 percent. In the 3 1/2 years with a total tonnage of 381,000 delivered to our landfill in Kitezi in 2014 from 224,568 in 2011. The establishment of a comprehensive solid waste strategy for Kampala is in advanced stages. Under this waste will be managed from source to recycling and bio energy generation. You are all required to contribute to the clean Kampala efforts by managing the proper disposal of your commercial and household garbage and ensuring its proper disposal,” said Musisi. Despite all these achievements, traffic congestion remains a source of stress and frustration for Kampala dwellers. During peak hours, one needs about three hours to travel from Kampala to Mukono – a distance which should be covered in less than an hour. This impacts on the tempo of business in the city and increases the cost of transport especially for traders. Time is lost and appointments broken. Traffic congestion also increases pollution and wastage of fuel for drivers and motorists. Musisi says, “In order to make travel in Kampala more convenient for you, we’re working to reduce traffic congestion and enhance mobility in the City by reconstruction and upgrading of the City roads. In the 3 and 1/2 years we have reconstructed and maintained over 150 Kms of City roads with 48kms in 2014 alone.” “We are now finalizing plans to establish mass public and non-motorized transport in some areas of the City. Substantial progress has been made towards activating passenger railway transport with RVR beginning with clearing and repairing the rail lines,” she adds. She concurs that Kampala dwellers’ common biggest headache is traffic congestion: “One of our top priorities is to reduce travel cost and time in Kampala. We are therefore working on different solutions including widening roads and junctions and providing alternative routes as you have observed. We will this year start installing more traffic signals at junctions in addition to a visual city surveillance system.” Dev’t plans Regarding approval of development plans, Musisi says the authority will depart from an average of 60 days to less than 21 days if all submissions are in order, stressing, developers should utilize the improved service in this area to comply with the development control regulations. “We still have a challenge with the Kampala Land Office mostly due to the manual record system. The Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development has plans to computerize these records and therefore reduce the current delays and inefficiencies in the Land Office,” says Musisi. “We need to have a pleasant looking City, I therefore urge those of you who own and manage building to maintain your properties by painting, paving frontages, lighting, and providing clean toilets for your clients and the public using these buildings. Improve the environment around your home by cleaning, greening, painting and lighting it. Cut the bushes around your home and in your frontage. KCCA will soon embark on compliance checks for all buildings, so do not be inconvenienced by our enforcement measures.” She also cautions on noise pollution. “We have been working to reduce noise pollution so that Kampala residents can sleep peacefully in the nights, but there are still many who breach the midnight deadline for illegal noise emissions. I am reminding proprietors of bars, night clubs, those of you organizing events and other noise generating establishments to observe the recommend sound levels without being coerced by legal action,” Musisi warns. “We have noise pollution hotlines 0794663333 which you can call to report offenders within the KCCA jurisdiction.” Education Musisi says work has already started to improve the infrastructure and facilities in the 83 UPE primary schools with a lot of help from partners and friends. On economic empowerment of the youth, the KCCA boss reveals in 2014 the authority supported small scale enterprises to create jobs and improve household incomes in the City. “We provided inputs to over 1,300 enterprises and individuals under our urban agriculture Program. Over Shs 1 billion was provided to over 100 youth groups in form of start-up capital. KCCA’s urban agricultural demonstration farm in Kyanja attracted over 1700 farmers from Kampala, Wakiso and from as far as Soroti, Tororo and Tanzania who come to learn about innovations in urban farming. Other areas including the City Festival which drew over 2 million people, the greening, and others have also progressed.” chimpreports/musisi-unveils-ambitious-kampala-redevelopment-masterplan/
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:37:43 +0000
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