No permits for properties without parking facilities
Jan 16, 2009
The latest from the administration at White Hall is that they intend to withhold trading licences of property developers who do not adhere to construction rules and guidelines. Deputy Kampala mayor, Florence Namayanja says: “Many developers issue Kampal
By Jude Katende
The latest from the administration at White Hall is that they intend to withhold trading licences of property developers who do not adhere to construction rules and guidelines. Deputy Kampala mayor, Florence Namayanja says: “Many developers issue Kampala City Council (KCC) with a plan which has parking space and when issued with an occupation permit, they convert the parking space to shops.â€
KCC has directed property owners to restore parking space immediately or else their buildings will face closure in 28 days if they fail to comply with the law. Some of the buildings cited include Energy Centre, Mabirizi City Complex, Sunset Arcade, Yamaha Centre and E-M Plaza.
However, there are some still under construction, but their designs do not reflect any parking space.
This is a positive move, but isn’t it a little too late? Isn’t KCC to blame for their unserious or lack of construction supervision? Why wait for a building to be occupied then turn around to say the owner did not adhere to regulations? Remember the Wandegeya hostel saga? Proprietors were told to demolish them because they were constructed on sewerage pipes. But this remained mere rhetoric.
According to sources at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), some developers submit plans, but when they are approved they just develop their structures and occupy them thereafter without getting the occupation permits. This was also cited by KCC as a common practice.
There is no doubt that Uganda and Kampala in particular is experiencing a wave of development in terms of construction. It is a matter of time before all small iron sheet-roofed establishments are razed to pave way for high rise buildings. The construction industry is growing by leaps and bounds at speeds never witnessed before.
However, what remains to be done is to embrace development with a sense of national pride or patriotism. Pride in the sense that developers put up something that generations will marvel at or will benefit from as opposed to structures that are constructed today and destroyed in 10 year’s time to pave way for others.
It defeats anybody’s understanding why some developers do not construct structures that will stand the test of time as is the case with some old buildings that are still intact today.
Examples include Cham Towers (former UCB), Uganda House, Sheraton Hotel (Apollo then), Bank of Uganda and East African Development Bank, among others. All these were constructed way back, but they look better than some buildings constructed in this millennium.
Are today’s developers only interested in quick money by building for today’s generation and forgetting that 20 years to come, their buildings will still need to be relevant?
With all due respect to KCC, it seems to have got it wrong this time round if their supervision role is anything to go by. Perhaps this is the first time KCC is coming up with a strong warning, but as usual the council’s seriousness can only be seen in apprehending the developers or closing their businesses as promised. Short of that, it would be the same ‘bark and no bite’ business, Kampala dwellers are becoming accustomed to.
Sometime last year, when a similar trend was enveloping the city, I sought KCC’s publicist, Simon Muhumuza’s take on the situation when some of the aforementioned buildings were yet to be completed and his answer seemed like a “good threat.†The threat was that owners of buildings without car parking space would be fined heavily! And that was last year, till now, I have never heard of any developer being fined, perhaps, the whip will finally come to pass this year.
Sounding sceptical then, architect Joel Kateregga, a chairperson of a body that brings together stakeholders in this industry, intimated to me that the fine suggestion was only a joke.
“How is it going to be implemented, that is a lie, they (KCC) will not fine anyone.â€
As we embrace the changing face of the city’s skyline, we should also brace ourselves with coming to terms with the shortfalls entailed such as numerous traffic jams that would have been controlled by parking space availability in buildings.
Beauty could at times be very deceptive. Your eyes could meet a wonderful complex, but once inside, your eyes could again be faced with the prospect of not wanting to visit the same facility again. Why? The building may be tall enough, but with no elevators. It could have poorly-finished stairs, no air conditioning or good windows, have tiny rooms and lack of parking space.
KCC says all storeyed buildings should have elevator facilities for people with disabilities, but only a few in Kampala have adhered to this. Many property developers are more interested in having as many rooms to rent out as possible, but at the expense of other critically vital facilities.
Globally, a lot of emphasis has been put on the design and construction of environmentally-friendly and sustainable buildings. However, in Uganda the consideration of the environment in the design of buildings has been neglected.
Some of the design options considered by many consultants today will result in negative environmental impacts in the near future. Furthermore, property developers have not expressed any interest in demanding for environmentally-friendly buildings and hence the neglect by designers.
Property developers, the ministry of works, Housing and Construction, architects, engineers, surveyors, property managers, land economists and financial institutions have got different tasks based on their functions with an aim of fostering development in the construction industry in the country. They need to come together to restore sanity in the industry. Short of this, Kampala will become a fast-growing urban slum.
The latest from the administration at White Hall is that they intend to withhold trading licences of property developers who do not adhere to construction rules and guidelines. Deputy Kampala mayor, Florence Namayanja says: “Many developers issue Kampala City Council (KCC) with a plan which has parking space and when issued with an occupation permit, they convert the parking space to shops.â€
KCC has directed property owners to restore parking space immediately or else their buildings will face closure in 28 days if they fail to comply with the law. Some of the buildings cited include Energy Centre, Mabirizi City Complex, Sunset Arcade, Yamaha Centre and E-M Plaza.
However, there are some still under construction, but their designs do not reflect any parking space.
This is a positive move, but isn’t it a little too late? Isn’t KCC to blame for their unserious or lack of construction supervision? Why wait for a building to be occupied then turn around to say the owner did not adhere to regulations? Remember the Wandegeya hostel saga? Proprietors were told to demolish them because they were constructed on sewerage pipes. But this remained mere rhetoric.
According to sources at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), some developers submit plans, but when they are approved they just develop their structures and occupy them thereafter without getting the occupation permits. This was also cited by KCC as a common practice.
There is no doubt that Uganda and Kampala in particular is experiencing a wave of development in terms of construction. It is a matter of time before all small iron sheet-roofed establishments are razed to pave way for high rise buildings. The construction industry is growing by leaps and bounds at speeds never witnessed before.
However, what remains to be done is to embrace development with a sense of national pride or patriotism. Pride in the sense that developers put up something that generations will marvel at or will benefit from as opposed to structures that are constructed today and destroyed in 10 year’s time to pave way for others.
It defeats anybody’s understanding why some developers do not construct structures that will stand the test of time as is the case with some old buildings that are still intact today.
Examples include Cham Towers (former UCB), Uganda House, Sheraton Hotel (Apollo then), Bank of Uganda and East African Development Bank, among others. All these were constructed way back, but they look better than some buildings constructed in this millennium.
Are today’s developers only interested in quick money by building for today’s generation and forgetting that 20 years to come, their buildings will still need to be relevant?
With all due respect to KCC, it seems to have got it wrong this time round if their supervision role is anything to go by. Perhaps this is the first time KCC is coming up with a strong warning, but as usual the council’s seriousness can only be seen in apprehending the developers or closing their businesses as promised. Short of that, it would be the same ‘bark and no bite’ business, Kampala dwellers are becoming accustomed to.
Sometime last year, when a similar trend was enveloping the city, I sought KCC’s publicist, Simon Muhumuza’s take on the situation when some of the aforementioned buildings were yet to be completed and his answer seemed like a “good threat.†The threat was that owners of buildings without car parking space would be fined heavily! And that was last year, till now, I have never heard of any developer being fined, perhaps, the whip will finally come to pass this year.
Sounding sceptical then, architect Joel Kateregga, a chairperson of a body that brings together stakeholders in this industry, intimated to me that the fine suggestion was only a joke.
“How is it going to be implemented, that is a lie, they (KCC) will not fine anyone.â€
As we embrace the changing face of the city’s skyline, we should also brace ourselves with coming to terms with the shortfalls entailed such as numerous traffic jams that would have been controlled by parking space availability in buildings.
Beauty could at times be very deceptive. Your eyes could meet a wonderful complex, but once inside, your eyes could again be faced with the prospect of not wanting to visit the same facility again. Why? The building may be tall enough, but with no elevators. It could have poorly-finished stairs, no air conditioning or good windows, have tiny rooms and lack of parking space.
KCC says all storeyed buildings should have elevator facilities for people with disabilities, but only a few in Kampala have adhered to this. Many property developers are more interested in having as many rooms to rent out as possible, but at the expense of other critically vital facilities.
Globally, a lot of emphasis has been put on the design and construction of environmentally-friendly and sustainable buildings. However, in Uganda the consideration of the environment in the design of buildings has been neglected.
Some of the design options considered by many consultants today will result in negative environmental impacts in the near future. Furthermore, property developers have not expressed any interest in demanding for environmentally-friendly buildings and hence the neglect by designers.
Property developers, the ministry of works, Housing and Construction, architects, engineers, surveyors, property managers, land economists and financial institutions have got different tasks based on their functions with an aim of fostering development in the construction industry in the country. They need to come together to restore sanity in the industry. Short of this, Kampala will become a fast-growing urban slum.