Have we lost all we gained from CHOGM?

Mar 19, 2008

IT is just four months since Uganda hosted CHOGM. However, a stroll around the city indicates most of the infrastructure put in place, as part of the CHOGM beautification, are already destroyed. Pavement covers have been stolen, metallic poles and the chains guarding green places cut and the green i

By Joshua Kato

IT is just four months since Uganda hosted CHOGM. However, a stroll around the city indicates most of the infrastructure put in place, as part of the CHOGM beautification, are already destroyed. Pavement covers have been stolen, metallic poles and the chains guarding green places cut and the green is almost drying because of lack of care. Many of the traffic lights are gone! The city authorities must be finding it difficult to maintain the facilities.

Although most of the funds for CHOGM repairs came from the Government, local leaders ‘own’ this infrastructure and should be proud of it.
According to Kampala City Mayor, Nasser Sebaggala, the main problem is lack of funds. "We do not have enough funds to maintain these facilities," he says.

It is worth remembering that all these developments were not carried out within the ordinary budgets of the respective local governments. Instead, funds were got from the central government. In most of them, it is the Government that actually contracted and paid for the work. However, the responsibility to maintain these facilities now rests on the shoulders of the city leadership and the divisions.

Roads

Many of the pavements that were not completed before CHOGM remained as they were. Kampala city has around 900km of roads. Of these, 300km is tarmac, while the rest is murram.

The Government took over management of some roads, and did repairs. The quality of the repairs is yet to be certified, but if it is good, it would take at least another year or two before new repairs are needed. The problem is the repairs involved patching up pot-holes which means, new ones may appear anytime. “The city has already received over sh15b specifically to maintain roads,” says Sebaggala . This money is already in the various divisions, with each of them receiving at least sh2.5b.

Work on some of the roads has commenced. But according to the Mayor, this money is not enough. “All city roads have already passed their lifespan of 10 years. We need to redo all of them,” he says.

To do this, the city needs at least $200m (sh360b). “We are in talks with the Government and the World Bank to get a loan, which will enable us work on all roads. Then we will be sure the roads can serve for the next 10 years,” Sebaggala says.
In the divisions, local leaders are also finding ways of maintaining their roads. “We are in the process of acquiring our own road unit to manage our roads,” says Makindye chairman, Moses Kalungi. The newly acquired equipment will be used to repair the backlog of roads in bad state across the divisions. Nakawa Division has already demarcated at least five roads to be repaired with this fund. Kawempe and Rubaga are also repairing theirs.

During CHOGM, the Government hired manual labour to clean the newly repaired roads. In a bid to keep the roads clean after CHOGM, Kampala City Council(KCC) has already advertised for two road cleaning trucks, that will regularly clean dust off the streets.
It is a hard task to keep the roads okay, given the tight city budget. “The budget makes it difficult for us to keep the roads in good order,” Sebaggala said. This is why he proposed that companies be hired to manage various road spots across the city. KCC is seeking about sh8b for the programme.

Garbage

Heaps of garbage have piled up in many areas, including Nakasero and the Central Business area. Before CHOGM, the city could as well be described as the Garbage City. The city generated an excess of 1,500 tons of garbage per day.

The Government intervention included acquiring new garbage trucks for the city and repairing several old ones that had since been damaged due to mechanical problems. At the time, there were less than 10 operating city council trucks. They were supplemented with several old trucks owned by private garbage collectors.

However, the Government mobilised funds and over 20 trucks, plus garbage skips were acquired. Every division was given two new trucks while the rest were left as pool garbage trucks. These trucks are still there but to maintain the cleanliness in the city, at least 30 trucks in good mechanical condition are needed. At least five should be assigned to operate in every division and five left as pool vehicles.

“Many of the drivers abuse the trucks. Some of them even connive with mechanics to steal off some parts, others steal and sell the fuel,” lamented Makindye’s Kalungi. Makindye division has already passed a by-law against careless disposition of garbage. “Whoever is found littering garbage, will pay a fine of sh50,000 or be imprisoned not less than three months,” Kalungi says. Private garbage collectors, hired by KCC to remove garbage, claim they have not been paid for months, thus have no money to buy fuel and pay their workers.

Street lighting

Many of the street lights have already been stolen and parts of the streets are dark again.
The lights are regularly plundered by unknown people and sold to private individuals. And yet, just fixing them cost over sh2b. Some people claim the thieves are from KCC itself, because they are the only people with tall ladders.

“We have increased surveillance around the city and have some leads as to who steals these lights and we shall apprehend them,” says Kampala Central Chairman Godfrey Nyakana.

The green patches, like opposite Steers is already dry up.

The Constitutional Square and the space opposite Uganda Railways are already overgrown and need trimming!
“Maintaining these things should be a collective responsibility of all people of Kampala,” says Nyakana.

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