Chinese investors, KCCA eye real estate

By Juliet Waiswa

A team of Chinese entrepreneurs has expressed interest in partnering with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) in the real estate business.

The team from Shaanxi Province, China who are in the country for a Forum on China- Africa Local Government Cooperation, told KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi that they have found a lot of business opportunities in Kampala which they feel they can get involved in.

The chairman of the board of the Shaanxi Overseas Investment and Development Company Limited, Xuemei Li, led the business team to KCCA head offices in Kampala on Friday.

“We want to know if there is a way of engaging in real estate’s development mortgage, we want to know what it takes and how much revenue is required,” Xuemei Li inquired.

Xuemei Li also expressed interest in the roads construction industry.

Musisi told the team that there are several areas in which KCCA requires public private partnerships in development of schools, markets, infrastructure, street lighting, transportation and sanitation management.

“We are looking for partner in the centralisation of the city transport system in Kampala.

You realise that there are many motorcycles (boda-bodas),” Musisi told the team. The director engineering and technical services Eng. Andrew Kitaka said with funding from the World Bank, KCCA is to develop 50 junctions in the city, in a programme which will begin next year.

He also said a traffic control centre will be constructed as part of funding from the World Bank. The team is part of the 100 delegates who include mayors, entrepreneurs and governors who are in the country to explore business opportunities.