Investors defy KCC

Feb 16, 2009

THE management of Nakivubo stadium and the Chinese investor constructing a warehouse in Lugogo have defied Kampala City Council orders to halt their construction works.

By Francis Kagolo and Darious Magara

THE management of Nakivubo stadium and the Chinese investor constructing a warehouse in Lugogo have defied Kampala City Council orders to halt their construction works.

KCC town clerk Ruth Kijjambu on Friday directed the immediate halt to construction works on plots M72/73 at Lugogo near the Kyadondo rugby club playground and inside Nakivubo stadium until authority is granted to the developers.

Luish Investments is said to be erecting a warehouse on top of sewer pipes on a contested piece of land at Lugogo.

The developments have drawn protests from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, which warned of a health catastrophe as the clay sewer pipes laid more than 40 years ago may be destroyed due to pressure from the weight of the buildings.

Kijjambu said whereas Luish Investments had submitted building plans, KCC had not yet approved them.

She demanded that the company first carries out an environment impact assessment, which has to be approved by the National Environmental Management Authority.

The Lugogo plot is not only located in a wetland, but its ownership is also shrouded in controversy followings suspicious transfers of its title. Its ownership has changed more than three times since 2006.

When The New Vision visited the site on Sunday afternoon, construction was going on normally.

It was the same at Nakivubo, where the stadium managers have rented out a two-acre piece of land inside the World War memorial stadium to the Allied Owners Bus Association to to build a bus terminal.

Kijjambu said she had not received any request from the stadium’s management to turn part of the stadium into a bus park.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});