Here is why you need an approved plan

Lugemwa Geoffrey stands akimbo at his construction site. He spends roughly six hours daily at the site to make sure that most of the site works are compliant with the approved plans.

Lugemwa knows he is not an engineer, but to avoid the cost of demolishing his structure, erected in the heart of Nansana Town Council, he makes sure that he stands close to the engineer and be keen on the building plan. The 45-year-old, estimates his investments at about Shs120m, which is the reason he asks as many questions as possible to ensure he does not incur liabilities that result from not following the plan.

He tells his story of how he has seen the town council change within a short time and speaks with authority probably to exhibit his well-grounded facts that are driving the rapid changes in his region.

“I had my first house in 2000, which I built without being bothered by the council. Before starting construction, you had to talk to some council officials,” says Lugemwa.

“But, things have changed. I was surprised when I realised that the district officials could not let any construction take place without an approved building plan,” Lugemwa wonders.

“I have seen a few houses demolished for lack of building plans and often some district officials have been visiting my construction site to check on compliance. It is serious nowadays unlike in the past,” he narrates.

Whereas Lugemwa is keen to follow the building plan endorsed by the town council, many people’s houses in Wakiso District are being demolished by the district development control enforcement team for lack of approved plans.

Affected areas

Ruth Nakatudde, the senior physical planner of Wakiso District, says the most affected areas have been those under the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.

According to the district 10-year (2007-2017) proposed Physical Infrastructure Plan (PIP), such areas are Katabi, Nansana, Bayitta, Makindye, Nangabo, Kajjansi, Zana, Kiira Town and Ssisa, among other areas. However, developers like Mohamadi Kamoga, the proprietor of Kamoga Property Consultants Ltd, observes that whereas Wakiso is headed towards becoming another mega city like Kampala, it has not been prepared enough to meet the obligations that can enable putting such infrastructure development in perspective.

Kamoga, who runs several real estates in the district, says many highways that have been proposed for construction will run through the district, and are likely to attract more people thus more constructions, which will need organisation.

Causes of delay

Ruth Nakatudde, the senior physical planner of Wakiso District, says the delay in approving the building plans is because many people submit substandard plans and when the district officials raise an issue about them, they don’t respond, which invokes action after a given period.

“It takes about two weeks or a month to review and approve a building plan,” she says.
“But in most cases, the applications received are substandard and when we recommend corrections, proprietors don’t want to return and we can’t approve such until we are assured of the corrections,” she says.

She adds that many proprietors often submit documents that are not complete.
For instance, Nakatudde says, if the complete process requires about seven sets of documents as a must, many people bring only building plans and neglect the other documents.
“It is a common obstacle in the approving of building plans,” she notes.

Nakatudde adds that despite what is happening, people need to appreciate that whatever is done, it is for the benefits of the future community planning.

Demolishing buildings

The exercise, which started in November last year, is, according to Ruth Nakatudde, the senior physical planner of Wakiso District aimed at combing and streamlining infrastructure development to avoid long run crises such as unplanned slums and settlements in conserved areas such as road reserves and wetlands.

Nakatudde says as Kampala keeps expanding, many people find Wakiso to be the nearest abode pushing many to buy land and construct buildings.

Nakatudde, however, says most of these people are erecting buildings regardless of the urban planning structures.

She hints that while the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has played its part in trying to enforce organised infrastructure development, pressure has been piled on Wakiso as a result of the many evictions in Kampala.

“Seven years ago, Wakiso was regarded as a rural district. But we have had a rapid shift in population growth as result of evictions in Kampala for the last three to four years,” says Nakatudde.

She adds, “Many people either out of ignorance or defiance are constructing buildings in road reserves, reserved wetlands and other conserved zones. This trend has forced the district to resolve not to let it continue without being checked.”

“We adopted a resolution to embark on clearing road reserves, check on illegal building constructions; push people to operate in gazetted regions and to enforce an organised physical planning of the district,” she reveals.

She says, as a result, a number of buildings have been razed, many building plans have been deferred and many buildings under construction halted so that the owners legalise their building plans.

Challenges

“But the challenge with such swift developments is that, they call for swift implementation of programmes, which is not the case with the district. Officials at the district are understaffed and often have no power to do secretarial work,” Mohamadi Kamoga, the proprietor of Kamoga Property Consultants Ltd says.

“All these hinder prompt service delivery and are likely to cause more illegal buildings given that the district is fast moving away from its previous rural status,” he notes.

Kamoga complained, as a developer, he has had cases where building plans have taken more than a month to be reviewed and approved.

As a result, he says, someone cannot keep construction materials at the site or halt his or her plans for a long period while waiting for a plan to be approved and thus the many illegal constructions.

“Therefore the rampant demolition simply point to poor planning and ineffectiveness among the district officials, which should not be extended to affect innocent people,” he counsels.

Approval for commercial building

• For commercial constructions like storied buildings and industries, on top of the basic construction requirements one must have a Nema Environmental Impact Assessment certificate.
• A Traffic Impact studies (TIS), which evaluates the transportation impacts of land development proposals.

• Geological Structure studies, clearance from the factory bodies; Waste Management proposals and Engineering Supervisory Agreements.
• The assessments and approval fees for commercial constructions on average cost Shs800, 000 to one million.

Dangers of no approval
•People on site can be arrested
•Confiscation of materials
•Demolition of the existing structure
•Taken to courts of law

About wakiso
•Size. Wakiso district council is a local government institution that covers approximately a total area of 2, 808 square kilometers. It has a population of two million people, mostly rural farmers.
•Counties. The district has two counties of Busiro and Kyandondo and the Entebbe Municipality. Kyadondo county has the highest population.
•Towns. It has 16 administrative towns which are; Entebbe Municipality, Gombe, Nsangi, Katabi, Kasanje, Makindye, Masuliita, Nabweru, Namayumba, Nangabo, Kakiri Town, Wakiso Town, Kira Town, Nansana Town, Ssisa, and Busukuma.
•Land. When buying land, one needs to avoid areas such as Entebbe municipality and Busiro County along Lake Victoria shores. Areas like Zziba, Mende and Lutembe are purely wetland zones.

Approval for Residentials
• For the basic construction plans like residential homes and simple houses, you need to prepare two copies of architectural plans. They were reduced from four.
• Two copies of structural plans certified by either a registered engineer or an architect. A genuine land title or a planning consent letter from the Buganda Land Board.
• There must be a site inspection by the district engineers, health officials and physical planners.
• Assessment and approval fees for basic construction on average cost Shs500, 000 to Shs800, 000.