Kampala Minister asks gov’t for more funding

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister for Kampala Betty Amongi has asked government to allocate more funds to Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA.

Amongi was on Wednesday appearing before Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee where she decried the minimal funding to Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA.

According to the Budget Framework Paper for the coming financial year 2020/2021, KCCA has been allocated Shillings 285 billion, an amount Among says is minimal for a city which is the face of government.

She noted that 17 activities worth Shillings 302.47 billion planned for implementation in the coming financial year have no funding. She appealed to the committee to push for an additional budget for at least 5 of the unfunded activities out of the 17 so that KCCA is able to change the face of the city ahead of the 2021 general elections.

Amongi demanded urgent provision of funds for the roads maintenance amounting to 23.5 billion and 47 billion for drainage infrastructure in the city.

She noted that KCCA also needs Shillings 20 billion for decommissioning of Kiteezi landfill which has exceeded its design capacity. She says that this funding gap relates to decommissioning costs as KCCA prepares to move to the new site at Dundu.

According to Amongi, after decommissioning, the new Dundu site will require 80 billion shillings to secure right of way-including payment of people whose land will be affected, construction of the primary infrastructure and provision of utility services.

“You know this is a major health issue which requires that we do not go into hazards related to non-decommissioning of this landfill,” said Amongi.

She also said that there is need for 25 billion shillings for a total of 65 (16-tonnage) trucks in order to effectively collect solid waste in Kampala, 139 billion for the Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project- KIIDP II and 7.87 billion to operationalize the recently amended KCCA Act.

David Bahati, the Minister of State for Planning said that his Ministry was working towards provision of a Vote for KCCA so that it is given more funding under the budget by 1st July 2020.

He also noted that Shillings 10 billion will be availed as a Supplementary budget to enable the Authority work on the roads.

He also noted that the Finance Ministry was processing a loan of US Dollars 300m envisaged to help the City on the maintenance of roads in the coming financial year.

Michael Kabaziguruka, the Nakawa MP also noted that most roads within KCCA are in a terrible state and in need for urgent repair.

But Jessica Ababiku, the Chairperson of Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee said that her committee was going to write a report making recommendations to parliament about the unfunded activities.

******

URN