Naguru satellite city still a dream

No work. The company has not yet started works, leaving police to ‘enjoy’ the would have been destroyed flats.

OPEC prime properties, the company contracted to construct the Naguru-Nakawa satellite city, has not kicked off, a month after the government gave them the green light.

According to the Nakawa Division Mayor, Mr Benjamin Kalumba, the Local Government Minister, Mr Adolf Mwesige, handed the proprietors the letter to commence construction in December, but up to now, there are no signs of construction works.

“We expected work to start immediately but up to now we have not seen anything because even our division headquarters are located here,” he said on telephone.

Efforts to reach both the minister and the local OPEC contacts for a comment have been futile.

Police move in
The delayed construction of the satellite city, coupled with the sorry state of the Naguru Police barracks, have forced officers to use the shell flats that were not demolished in the build-up to the reconstruction.

When the Daily Monitor visited the site last week, it found windows of the three remaining flats that have been renamed Mogadishu, covered with polyethylene bags to act as window panes.
The facilities house police officers attached to the counter terrorism unit.

According to Mr Vicent Ssekate, the deputy police spokesperson, the policemen were forced to move to the shell houses temporarily since it turned out to be a haven for thugs. “We found out that thugs would hide there during day time and come out at night to waylay people, but we are there temporarily,” he said.

During the run-up to the 2011 general election, and its aftermath, the police, with an estimated workforce of close to 40,000 officers, was forced to erect tents and warehouse-like structures to accommodate them.

Two years after the elections, the Force is still grappling with accommodation, with senior officers sharing single rooms, which act as sitting rooms, kitchens and at the same time bedrooms.
The rooms are shared with children, leaving no room for privacy.

Asked why the Force had delayed to implement the private public partnership policy to build housing units for its workers, Mr Ssekate said the proposal was still with Parliament.

sotage@ug.nationmedia.com