KCC rules on burnt market tomorrow
The future of the recently burnt Nakivubo Stadium Park Yard Market will be decided by Kampala City Council (KCC) tomorrow, an official has said.
By Vision Reporter
The future of the recently burnt Nakivubo Stadium Park Yard Market will be decided by Kampala City Council (KCC) tomorrow, an official has said.
Park Yard Market, in which vendors lost millions of shillings and stock in the recent blaze, is not a designated market.
“Though the vendors are putting up other stalls, there is no certainty that KCC could license them to operate in the same dangerous conditions,†the source said.
Although the market is not gazetted, prominent public figures including President Yoweri Museveni, the Kabaka of Buganda, musicians and the Forum for Democratic Change leader, Dr. Kiiza Besigye, gave the vendors financial and material support to rebuild it.
However, the haphazard building has come under criticism because the owners are using the same highly inflammable timber and polythene materials.
No access passages have been provided.
“They have not left any space that can stop fire from spreading.
“On top of this, there is always a lot of fuel in the market for various reasons,†a radio caller commented recently.
Others have pointed out that the sheer numbers congested in the limited space does not cater for hygiene or other socially desirable parameters.
Previous efforts to decongest the market have failed as the market leaders collect more revenue the greater the number of vendors there are.
Council officials have also previously complained that councillors put their own people in the corridors and gates increasing congestion.
Any decision Council makes will have to take into account the politically unpopular but inevitable planned safety measures and the possibility of future configurations in a city where even the previously popular Mayor has had shoes hurled after him.
The future of the recently burnt Nakivubo Stadium Park Yard Market will be decided by Kampala City Council (KCC) tomorrow, an official has said.
Park Yard Market, in which vendors lost millions of shillings and stock in the recent blaze, is not a designated market.
“Though the vendors are putting up other stalls, there is no certainty that KCC could license them to operate in the same dangerous conditions,†the source said.
Although the market is not gazetted, prominent public figures including President Yoweri Museveni, the Kabaka of Buganda, musicians and the Forum for Democratic Change leader, Dr. Kiiza Besigye, gave the vendors financial and material support to rebuild it.
However, the haphazard building has come under criticism because the owners are using the same highly inflammable timber and polythene materials.
No access passages have been provided.
“They have not left any space that can stop fire from spreading.
“On top of this, there is always a lot of fuel in the market for various reasons,†a radio caller commented recently.
Others have pointed out that the sheer numbers congested in the limited space does not cater for hygiene or other socially desirable parameters.
Previous efforts to decongest the market have failed as the market leaders collect more revenue the greater the number of vendors there are.
Council officials have also previously complained that councillors put their own people in the corridors and gates increasing congestion.
Any decision Council makes will have to take into account the politically unpopular but inevitable planned safety measures and the possibility of future configurations in a city where even the previously popular Mayor has had shoes hurled after him.