Mixed feelings as Arua taxi park opens

Development. The modern taxi park in Arua Municipality that was commissioned by First Deputy Prime Minister, Gen Moses Ali, yesterday. PHOTO BY FELIX WAROM OKELLO

What you need to know:

  • Infrastructure. The park can accommodate 72 vehicles and contains restaurants, a supermarket and 125 lock-up shops.

Arua. Concerns over transparency in allocating lock-up shops at the newly commissioned taxi park remains a key issue that could cause division in the municipality.
The rebuilt taxi park, commissioned yesterday by the First Deputy Prime Minister, Gen Moses Ali, is seen as a relief to transporters and commuters. Municipal authorties hope it will boost their revenue collection.
“I have already received complaints from people that they have paid huge amounts of money to acquire lock-up shops. And if we find out the truth about this, then the officials who collected the money will have to vomit (return) the money,” Mr Kassiano Wadri, the Arua Municipality MP.
He said there should be transparency and accountability so that the traders intending to use the shops could do their business profitably.

Revenue generation
“Arua is a hub of business and we are sure this park will bolster the revenue collection and economy because we are near two international boundaries of DR Congo and South Sudan. Do not look at this as a government project, but look at it as your own by maintaining the facilities,” Mr Kassiano added.
The park has capacity to accommodate 72 vehicles and contains restaurants, a supermarket and 125 lock-up shops.
It also has offices, police post, solar powered parking lights, modern sanitary facilities and waiting shades.
The facility was constructed at Shs8b under USMID, a World Bank-funded programme to support municipal infrastructure development.
The commissioning turned political when the leaders, who are inclined to the NRM heaped praise on President Museveni for constructing the park.
But Mr Kassiano and his Ayivu counterpart, Mr Bernard Atiku, said they made more salient contribution since the inception of USMID programme in 2013.
Gen Ali said there was need for the traders in Arua to take advantage of the strategic location to do business to transform their lives.
“You must guard this investment jealously from being misused or vandalised. This is an investment that will boost the economy of Arua and the entire region because there were huge funds invested here,” he said.
The Town Clerk, Mr Daniel Kaweesi, said there are 125 lock-ups in the parks that will be rented out to traders to boost revenue generation.
“We have been faced with poor revenue collection since the old park was demolished, but we are now going to use this to triple our revenue. We shall ensure that the guidelines are followed in allocating the lock-up shops,” he said.
The council expects to generate Shs54 million monthly, up from the Shs18 million it collected from the old taxi park.
Several speakers cautioned the users to desist from making the park dirty as it was the case in the past.
The project coordinator for USMID, Mr Isaac Mutenyo, said more funds will be allocated for Arua Municipality because it used the funds well for the Taxi Park Project.
“We have seen the good results from this project and we shall have additional funding from USMID for other projects that will be identified by the council for more funding,” he said.