Kiwatule: Where the educated retreat
Nov 10, 2006
RESIDENTIAL developers desire quietness, lots of green space and appreciate high housing and security. For these traits, the city centre is out of question. Little wonder that many people are looking to the formerly less-attractive sections of the city and turning them into plush suburbs.
KAMPALA’S NEW SUBURBS
By Titus Serunjogi
RESIDENTIAL developers desire quietness, lots of green space and appreciate high housing and security. For these traits, the city centre is out of question. Little wonder that many people are looking to the formerly less-attractive sections of the city and turning them into plush suburbs.
Talk of grand, at the very least, self-contained bungalows for the spill-over of the city’s 1.2 million night population.
Kampala’s new suburbs also have easy access to the central business district (CBD), where many are employed.
Kiwatule is perhaps the fastest-growing suburb in town. Once sprinkled with crouching, iron sheet-roofed houses and banana plantations, the place has now grown to become the retreat for those well-educated and highly-skilled people in white-collar service industries. It is also a favourite for people who have are returned home from kyeeyo.
“In 1996,we only had a murram road and there was only one taxi plying the route to town. If you missed the taxi, you had to wait until it came back the next day,†Moses Kato, a real estate middleman here, reminisces.
Today, thanks to Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, the biggest land-owner here, there are several dozen taxis that keep moving to and fro the area till late everyday. However, most of the newest real estate developers here can afford their own vehicles.
Over the past two years, Kiwatule has sprawled several grand tile-roofed mansions over the hills. At this rate, it is doubtless that it will soon take over the place of Ntinda as a place for the rich.
The only downside here is that the prices of real estate have shot up. A 25 decimal plot costs sh70m, more than twice the price of the land at Kyebando.
Renting a self-contained house here one would need between sh400,000 and sh1.3m a month, depending on the size of the house. And a modest single-roomed apartment goes for no less than sh70,000 per month.
Piped water is abundant; but most developers build septic tanks. Never mind that “septic tanks render land invaluable for future use,†as Simon Muhumuza, the Kampala City Council public relations manager says. But many homes are yet to be connected to the national sewer system.
There has hardly been any reported case of burglary in the past three years. However, a source at the LC 1 office says; “Petty theft and mugging have only been reported after construction of the northern bypass begun.†Even then, a good number of the new home-owners hire services of security guards.
The night-life at Kiwatule is a little modest. The regular fare is a trip to the bar and then back home. Once in a while, on special weekend nights, the scene gets explosive with raucous entertainment at the Bidandi’s Kiwatule recreation Centre, which brings in people from all over Kampala.
For shopping, the suburb boasts of a good number of supermarkets that are often open till after midnight. The shop at Mogas petrol station goes on till about 2:00am.
However, there is yet to be a big produce market in the area, The market was allocated a piece of land, but new developers have strongly opposed a market next to their homes.
There is one UPE school, but most residents prefer to take their children to the private Kiwatule Parents’ School. Twinkles Nursery School, on the other hand, gathers pupils from as far as Ntinda and Bukoto.
Settlers in Kiwatule must be ready to rely on Ntinda for the produce market, the ATM machines and secondary schools. Otherwise, the area has everything else that one would desire in a residential area. And at its rate of growth, it is of little doubt that it will melt into the neighbouring Najjeera, which is still largely rural area.
By Titus Serunjogi
RESIDENTIAL developers desire quietness, lots of green space and appreciate high housing and security. For these traits, the city centre is out of question. Little wonder that many people are looking to the formerly less-attractive sections of the city and turning them into plush suburbs.
Talk of grand, at the very least, self-contained bungalows for the spill-over of the city’s 1.2 million night population.
Kampala’s new suburbs also have easy access to the central business district (CBD), where many are employed.
Kiwatule is perhaps the fastest-growing suburb in town. Once sprinkled with crouching, iron sheet-roofed houses and banana plantations, the place has now grown to become the retreat for those well-educated and highly-skilled people in white-collar service industries. It is also a favourite for people who have are returned home from kyeeyo.
“In 1996,we only had a murram road and there was only one taxi plying the route to town. If you missed the taxi, you had to wait until it came back the next day,†Moses Kato, a real estate middleman here, reminisces.
Today, thanks to Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, the biggest land-owner here, there are several dozen taxis that keep moving to and fro the area till late everyday. However, most of the newest real estate developers here can afford their own vehicles.
Over the past two years, Kiwatule has sprawled several grand tile-roofed mansions over the hills. At this rate, it is doubtless that it will soon take over the place of Ntinda as a place for the rich.
The only downside here is that the prices of real estate have shot up. A 25 decimal plot costs sh70m, more than twice the price of the land at Kyebando.
Renting a self-contained house here one would need between sh400,000 and sh1.3m a month, depending on the size of the house. And a modest single-roomed apartment goes for no less than sh70,000 per month.
Piped water is abundant; but most developers build septic tanks. Never mind that “septic tanks render land invaluable for future use,†as Simon Muhumuza, the Kampala City Council public relations manager says. But many homes are yet to be connected to the national sewer system.
There has hardly been any reported case of burglary in the past three years. However, a source at the LC 1 office says; “Petty theft and mugging have only been reported after construction of the northern bypass begun.†Even then, a good number of the new home-owners hire services of security guards.
The night-life at Kiwatule is a little modest. The regular fare is a trip to the bar and then back home. Once in a while, on special weekend nights, the scene gets explosive with raucous entertainment at the Bidandi’s Kiwatule recreation Centre, which brings in people from all over Kampala.
For shopping, the suburb boasts of a good number of supermarkets that are often open till after midnight. The shop at Mogas petrol station goes on till about 2:00am.
However, there is yet to be a big produce market in the area, The market was allocated a piece of land, but new developers have strongly opposed a market next to their homes.
There is one UPE school, but most residents prefer to take their children to the private Kiwatule Parents’ School. Twinkles Nursery School, on the other hand, gathers pupils from as far as Ntinda and Bukoto.
Settlers in Kiwatule must be ready to rely on Ntinda for the produce market, the ATM machines and secondary schools. Otherwise, the area has everything else that one would desire in a residential area. And at its rate of growth, it is of little doubt that it will melt into the neighbouring Najjeera, which is still largely rural area.