Cabinet approves creation of nine cities
Fort Portal is one of the Municipalities that will become a city effective July 1, 2020
Cabinet has approved the creation of nine cities, five of which will become operational on July 1, 2020.
These cities include Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Fort Portal, and Mbarara. These will be elevated from municipal to city status by July 1, 2020. The other two cities that will become cities on July 2021 are Hoima and Mbale.
The move is part of a government plan to turn nine municipalities into regional cities.
Fort Portal, Mbarara and Hoima will be regional cities in western Uganda; Entebbe city in the central region; Lira, Arua and Gulu in northern region while Mbale and Jinja cities will serve the eastern region.
According to the Minister of Local Government, Mr Tom Butime, the Cabinet meeting that was chaired by President Museveni in Entebbe on Monday, resolved that the municipalities will be elevated in a phased manner.
He said that a budget of Shs130 billion will be set aside for the operationalisation of the cities after meeting all the requirements.
In February, a technical team led by the Commissioner of Urban Administration in the Ministry of Local Government, Mr Justinian Niwagaba, said in Fort Portal that all regional cities will have two divisions.
Mr Niwagaba said that each division will get a Member of Parliament (MP) and an overall MP for each city.
