Govt to compensate land owners around River Nile

Leisure. Tourists take a boat ride at the Source of River Nile in 2018. Government wants to compensate land owners on the Source of River Nile in a bid to acquire land for its redevelopment. FILE PHOTO

Government has announced plans to compensate land owners on the Source of River Nile in a bid to acquire land for its redevelopment.

The Indian government has undertaken to redevelop the revered site although Jinja Municipality has been reluctant to hand over the land.

They intend to redevelop the site by building an international conventional and heritage centre in commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian activist, whose ashes were scattered in the Source of the Nile in 1948.

The Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, last month said government cannot fail to acquire land for public projects.

“If government needs land, it cannot fail to acquire it. What we shall do is to compensate all those who have land at the Source of River Nile so that we redevelop the area,’’ he said.

He added that government wants to redevelop the area so that it can attract more tourists.

“More tourists will come to Uganda to see where Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were immersed; it can both be an international convection and heritage centre,” he added.

Government had recently decided to have the Gandhi Heritage Centre established in Jinja and the Gandhi Conventional Centre constructed on the Ministry of Agriculture land in Entebbe.

However, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, together with other MPs, rejected the plan and insisted both should be set up in Jinja as the Indian Prime Minister promised.

Although Parliament resolved to build both the Gandhi Conventional and Heritage centres at the Source of River Nile, the project still hangs in the balance due to shortage of land.

The Jinja Municipality land surveyor, Mr Robert Kitimbo, at the weekend, said land at the Source of the Nile that reportedly belongs to Jinja Municipality is only 9.1 acres and the whole of it cannot be allocated for redevelopment, while privately owned land, he said, measures 9.63 acres.

The deputy head of mission, India, Mr Mohammed Baswari Kezaala, said the project, according to the National Construction Corporation of India, requires 10 acres of land and the amount of money will depend on the available space.

Background

In a September 24 letter to the mayor of Jinja Municipality, Mr Majid Batambuze, Ms Kadaga directed that land at the Source of River Nile be availed to the government of India to kick start the project.

Ms Kadaga, in the same letter, noted that when the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Modi Narendra, visited Uganda in July 2018, he made various pledges, with one of them being the construction of a Mahatma Gandhi Cultural Centre at the Source of the Nile.

However, the implementation of the project has been delayed due to lack of land.