Kiruddu sewage crisis: Government, Buganda in talks to build treatment plant

Kampala- Following complaints from residents about the stench at Kiruddu Hospital, government and Buganda Land Board (BLB) are in talks to acquire a 2.5-acre piece of land to construct of a sewage treatment plant.

BLB has availed a lease offer to government through Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to commit to the number of years they are willing to occupy the land.

“We gave them an offer which will require them to agree on the terms and conditions and then we agree. It is up to them to decide on the years. For us we offer all options,” Mr Bashir Kizito, the head of operations and business BLB, said.

He refuted claims that there is an encroacher on the said land saying there has never been any.

“In Uganda, the only conclusive about land is a title and we have it, it is our land,” Mr Kizito added.
Already, the Ministry of Finance has released Shs4b to the Health Ministry which is supposed to dispatch the money for construction of the treatment, acquire the piece of land and procurement of sewage tracks among other tasks.

KCCA take
Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA public relations officer, revealed that the process of procuring the land is still ongoing.

“We have not yet concluded with Buganda Land Board, we are still engaging them to secure the land,” Mr Kaujju said.

However, Mr Nelson Balyejusa, the head of accounts at Kiruddu Hospital, said Ministry of health, KCCA and BLB met recently to agree the modalities of payment.

“When I talk about Ministry of Health, we cover Kiruddu Hospital in there. But the latest is that letter has been drafted for the KCCA executive director allowing Health Ministry to go ahead and transfer the funds directly to BLB or to allow it purchase land,” Mr Balyejusa.

“When executive director signs this letter it will go to the Ministry of Health so that the money is released to BLB,” he added.

Meanwhile National Water and Sewerage Corporation has visited the land to access the site.

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“The design will be done after the contract. It is done under the design-and-build so you cannot have the plan. Once the land has been secured we are willing to give our expertise to another national agency,” Mr Samuel Apedel, the public relations officer NWSC, said.

Current situation
Once the treatment plant is completed, sewage from the hospital will be channelled directly to the plant since the current septic tanks cannot sustain the large numbers at the hospital.

“The sewage has never burst, it is because of the numbers that we have that overwhelmed the system. National water does not have a sewer line to connect this area so we are relying on a septic tank to manage more than a thousand people that come to the facility on a daily basis,” Dr Charles Kabugo, the executive director of the hospital, said.

Currently, there is a sewage truck that empties the septic tank on an average of five to six trips every day. “The first thing to do is for you to acknowledge is that there is a problem and I think government acknowledged that there is a problem that we need to address. In the meantime, through the Ministry of Health procured a vehicle,” Dr Kabugo said.

“It is very costly because the vehicle it breaks down. It gets stuck in traffic jam because it is not an ambulance so instead of doing six trips, it does four because of traffic jam is on the street and then there is a bit of overflow, though the sewage is disinfected on a daily basis. ” he added.

Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health senior public relations officer, said they await a letter from BLB.