City grand plan: KCCA achieves only 12% four years later

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has only achieved 12 per cent of its five-year strategic plan for the city, a new report shows. The plan was drawn in 2014 and ends this year.
The report, a copy of which Daily Monitor has seen, was compiled by KCCA’s department of strategy management and business development in October last year.
The report notes that 37 per cent of the planned projects are ongoing while 27 per cent have failed to kick off.
In 2014, KCCA unveiled its five-year strategic plan under the theme of “laying a foundation for city transformation towards achieving the vision of a vibrant, attractive and sustainable city.” It was aligned to the National Vision 2040 and the Greater Kampala Area Development Framework 2040.
The focus was to rebuild institutional credibility and functionality, and revamping basic urban infrastructure. The authority was also supposed to rebuild key institutional, infrastructural and social structures that drive the delivery of goods and services and respond to the challenges of increasing urbanisation and influx of rural-urban migration.
However, the report states that implementation of the plan was hindered by limited financing.
KCCA had anticipated to spend Shs5.59 trillion to implement the plan but only Shs2.24 trillion was realised.
The authority had planned to grow its revenue base through mobilising local revenue, engaging development partners and encouraging Public Private Partnership.
The report further shows that the major shortfalls were recorded in central government transfers and Non-Tax Revenue (NTR) against the targets.
A total of 19 projects with 78 sub-projects were planned and would be divided under six programmes.
The programmes included integrated neighbourhood planning, integrated city transport infrastructure improvement, city resilience and sustainable management, health, social development and inclusive growth, economic growth and institutional development.

Infrastructure
The report observes that KCCA had anticipated to construct 600km of roads from 2014-2019 but only 151.96km have been completed while construction of 45.1km is ongoing.
The story is different for the World Bank-funded project under the second Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP-2).Of the 6.1km of roads and 12 junctions planned, 5km and 10 junctions have been completed.
Procurement of contractors for the other 21km road and 14 junctions under the second phase of KIIDP-2 project is ongoing.
However, feasibility studies and financing arrangements are ongoing for other city roads projects such as the Kampala Roads Rehabilitation project under the African Development Bank (80km and 13 junctions) and Kampala Annuity Roads Project under the Department for International Development (300km).
The authority took over a road network of 1,200km in 2011, but when a new road inventory was conducted in 2015, it was established the city had a total road network of 2,110km.
Under KIIDP-2, KCCA has upgraded at least 210km of roads to Bitumen and maintained about 500km of gravel roads, leaving about 1,600km of city roads unpaved.
However, the report shows that the feasibility studies and designs for the traffic junction signalisation and traffic control centre were completed while procurement of the contractor for the Kampala flyover project under the Japan International Cooperation Agency was compeleted.
However, there is no update about the Nsambya Bridge project.
On a positive note, feasibility studies for the Kampala Bus Transit project, Non-Motorised Transport, cable cars project, light rail, construction of parking towers and terminals, and development of transport management policies and systems have been completed.
Although KCCA had planned to embark on the neighbourhood planning for city corridors, the report shows that Kololo, Nakasero, Mulago and Makerere areas have been scheduled for the plan.
However, the update on the Nakawa-Wakiso-Mukono corridors and other city divisions are not in the report.
But the report shows that the Geographical Information System upgrade and comprehensive street naming has been completed in all the five city divisions.
According to the strategic plan, KCCA’s efforts would be to address the city planning to direct organised development, guide infrastructure development and thereby promote socio-economic growth.
The areas that had been scheduled for slum upgrade are Kisenyi, Kinyolo (Central), Katanga, Bwaise (Kawempe), Nsambya, Kikuba Mutwe and Kasaga (Makindye), Kasovo, Kawaala (Rubaga), Kinawataka, Bukoto (Nakawa).
However, the report shows that nothing has been done.
The report further shows that whereas KCCA planned to do a comprehensive landscaping and beautification of the city’s recreational parks, land disputes have made the implementation impossible.
For instance, the report shows that open spaces such as Nakawa leisure park, Jubilee park (Sheraton gardens), Constitutional Square, and Railway gardens are marred by land wrangles.

Health system
The authority planned to construct a fully-fledged hospitals in each of the five urban divisions, with each facility having specialised services but only Kiruddu and Kawempe hospitals have been completed. KCCA also completed the maternity ward at Katia.
However the report does not provide any update on the construction of fully-fledged hospitals in the other divisions. There is also no update on the construction of maternal and child health wing at Kawaala Health Centre III, which KCCA had outlined in the strategic plan.
The report shows that remodeling of Komamboga Health Centre III to a community hospital is still ongoing.
Currently, city health centres are overwhelmed by the swelling population.
Health facilities under KCCA include Kisenyi Health Centre IV, Kiswa Health Centre III, Kawaala HC III, Kitebi Health Centre III, Komamboga Health Centre III, Kisugu Health Centre III, Bukoto Health Centre III, and City Hall Health Centre II.
Whereas the plan had outlined massive improvement in the management and collection of solid waste, the city is still grappling with uncollected waste. For instance, the concessionaires that were contracted to collect waste, do not have enough manpower.
KCCA, which is supposed to collect garbage from public institutions, does not have enough trucks.Besides, Kiteezi landfill is already overflowing.
However, the report notes that the authority completed procurement of 132 acres of land in Dundu, Mukono District, to construct a new landfill.
There is also an ongoing feasibility study for waste management through the PPP.
The feacal sludge project under the Bill and Melinda Foundation is ongoing.
According to the report, KCCA constructed 100 toilets in city schools.
School infrastructure
In the strategic plan, KCCA planned to develop the city education master plan, incorporate community services and sports.
The plan would guide future investments and management of the education sector in Kampala.
It would inform the education rationalisation programme aimed to free land for development of modal schools in each division and establish business, technical and vocational training schools.
The city modal schools would have features such as hosting a population of about 1,500 to 2,000 pupils, 1:45 ratio of teacher to leaners in a classroom, at least five streams for every class, an IT and computer lab for every class—seven computer labs.
Others are a school library, a laboratory, clinic, a nursery school for each school, a swimming pool and at least two pit-latrine stances.
Although the report shows that the education master plan was completed, implementation has not yet started.
KCCA manages 79 government-aided primary schools but these face several challenges.
For instance, 57 schools out of the 79, have no land titles and owners of land on which they sit have since threatened to evict them.
Statistics indicate that only four schools sit on land owned by the authority while 22 have received lease offers from various authorities.
The lease offers to the 18 schools were given by the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) and four were from the Buganda Land Board (BLB).
Under the economic growth programme, KCCA planned to construct city markets and establish artisan and business parks to boost the city’s economy.
However, the report shows that there is no update on the artisan and business parks yet hence working spaces are still lacking.
The authority also planned to construct multipurpose business centres at Kasubi, Busega, Kintitale, Bukoto, Ntinda, Nakawa, Ggaba, Nalukolongo, Kalerwe, Kamwokya and Usafi markets.
However, most of these markets are still operating under makeshift structures. Busega market has been partially completed while construction of Kasubi market, whose land was recently acquired, is underway.
The report also notes that the authority has completed feasibility study for redevelopment of Kyanja Agricultural Centre and the Agricultural Bulk Warehousing and Export facility.
But it does not show any update on Kalerwe Agricultural market facility. Kalerwe vendors currently operate on the road reserve while part of the market is on private land. Previously, there have been attempts to evict them.
Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago attributes the plan’s failure to KCCA’s lack of priority.
Mr Lukwago says the authority diverted from the development agenda and resorted to quick fixes to give a wrong impression to Kampala dwellers.
The Lord Mayor accuses the Minister of Kampala and her deputy of failing to lobby for the city’s budget yet KCCA continues to grapple with funding gaps despite demands by city elected leaders to increase the budget.
“The only area where you see remarkable performance is the road sector and this is because it is a World Bank project. But largely, government pays little things to Kampala’s development,” Mr Lukwago says.
Asked about what plans KCCA has for Kampala, he said they have started developing a new strategic plan, which will run from 2020 to 2026, but aligned to the National Development Plan.

KCCA take
However, KCCA’s director of public and corporate affairs Peter Kaujju in a text message stated that the authority has realised more than half of the strategic plan.
“KCCA’s strategic plan has been achieved 65 per cent and it is still ongoing. We still have one year to go and a number of projects are progressing. We have experienced some challenges but this does not mean we have fallen short of the target. We are moving and the results are very visible,” he stated.
Kampala Minister Beti Kamya attributed the stalled projects on inadequate funding and land wrangles.
Ms Kamya said some of the critical areas such as flooding and physical planning are not catered for in the budget.
She said KCCA’s budgets have been slashed several times by government thus stagnating development.
Asked how KCCA will accomplish the unfinished business, Ms Kamya said KCCA will lobby donors for funding and engage government to increase KCCA’s budget.
However, she dismissed claims by Mr Lukwago that KCCA spent the money on ‘fighting’ the Opposition politicians at City Hall. She described it as “propaganda.”