Police ordered to evict encroachers on SGR land

Officials from the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project have asked police and other security agencies to evict people who have encroached on land under the proposed railway corridor.
Mr Emmanuel Ssemakula, the deputy project coordinator of technical works at SGR, said the move will address all encumbrances that may frustrate commencement of the project works, which he said would start soon.
‘‘We are dismayed that some of the project affected persons that had even received their compensation have returned to the land to grow crops while others are using it for brick making,’’ he said at the weekend while touring the project land with leaders of Tororo and Butaleja districts.
Mr Ssemakula also said some encroachers have started uprooting the markstones that were used for demarcation.
“The construction will soon commence any time since the China Exim Bank has approved the loan request of more than $2.269m (Shs8.4b) by government,” he said.
The Butaleja Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jimmy Ebil Ssegawa, said the district will evict anybody who has encroached on the land.
“I appeal to those who have encroached or still using the land that government secured the land for SGR project to immediately vacate before the law takes its course,” Mr Ssegawa said while addressing some of the project affected persons in Buhumi Village in Busolwe Sub-county. He asked the officials to avail his office with a list of all affected persons.
“I need a list because some of the people claim that they have not received compensation,” he said.
The chairperson of Butaleja District, Mr Richard Way, asked government to speed up the process of compensating the remaining people from the demarcated corridor in order to ensure a smooth process of construction.