Urban councils face dilemma of revenue, poor planning

At least nine of the 41 municipalities in Uganda have been earmarked for city status, according to information from the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG). With the capital city Kampala, the country will have 10 cities.
The new proposed cities are; Mbarara, Gulu, Arua, Fort Portal, Mbale, Hoima, Lira, Jinja and Entebbe. With the ever growing rural-urban migration in Uganda, physical planning is a paramount aspect of any growing urban place.
Poor planning by the first leaders and managers of Kampala has always been blamed for the traffic jam, flooding, uncollected garbage, environmental management and settlements, among others.

For the upcoming cities, they have struggled in physical planning issues, waste management and population pressure, among others.
While addressing a meeting of mayors and town clerks in Kampala on Friday, the Minister for Local Government, Col Tom Butime, decried the poor planning in most municipalities. He said with more people preferring towns as their choice of settlement, the leaders must rise to the occasion to improve the living standards.

“Our municipalities are characterized by slums, stinking garbage, inadequate sanitation and drainage facilities, poor health services, poor housing conditions, poor access road networks, disorganised commercial operations, a proliferation of low productive jobs, inadequate energy, water and environmental degradation,” Col Butime said.
The minister observed that most of the municipalities have been dogged by the rapid rise of uncontrolled settlements where people have constructed without approved plans. In urban development, every building whether commercial or residential must be approved by the municipal physical planner.

However, this has not been the case. Almost in all towns, emerging or existing, people tend to rush to put up buildings that offend the physical planning criterion and the municipal authorities cannot provide services such as opening roads, drainage systems or installing water and electricity.
“There is a growing concern about the rate at which uncontrolled developments are spreading. As urban managers, you have a duty to stop this pathetic trend,” Mr Butime told the municipal leaders.
The urban development plans locally developed at municipal or town council level are supposed to feed into the National Physical Development Plan (NPDP) that is designed under the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MoLHUD).

But, the ministry says most urban councils delay submission of their physical development plans which in turn affects the NPDP.
The assistant Commissioner for Physical Planning in Lands ministry, Mr Emmanuel Kaganzi, says as they move closer to completion of the NPDP, there are 28 municipalities with proper plans. He says physical planning for urban centres is a local initiative and the experts in the ministry only give advisory services.

“There are 28 municipalities with up-to-date plans. Two don’t have up-to-date plans and three have their plans under review. If you don’t have a physical plan, then we have little business with you. You have nothing to feed in the national plans,” Mr Kaganzi warned.
He said poor planning has led to the chaotic structures in many towns lying on either side of a road or highway that passes through them and often there is no motorable access to them.
Poor planning, the Commissioner says, are resulting from limited coordination within the infrastructure and utility bodies; lack of harmonised laws; poor individualistic mindset; lack of compliance with enforcement mechanisms; and duplication of roles at the local governance level.

Some mayors noted that physical infrastructure planning in their municipalities have been hampered by compensation queries and expired leases on government land which invites fraudsters to grab the land.
“As you tell us to plan better for our towns, the government should make a deliberate effort to find money for compensation to the land owners where we want to pass roads and other infrastructure services. This shows how we have not been prepared for the cities we are going to have,” said Ms Mary Grace Mugasa, the Hoima Municipality mayor.
Mayors of municipalities in the Kampala metropolitan area said it is becoming hard for them to make other physical plans ahead of the pending Strategic Development Plan for Greater Kampala. This strategic plan targets the municipalities of Nansana, Kira, Mukono, Makindye-Ssabagabo and Entebbe.

As part of the physical planning, the government is implementing the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project (MATIP) where 21 markets have been earmarked in particular towns around the country.
Seven markets have been completed under MATIP first phase and there are eight of them already undergoing construction or whose construction is about to start. The seven markets are; Wandegeya, Lira, Gulu, Mbale, Jinja, Hoima, and Fort Portal.

The Permanent Secretary of MoLG, Mr Ben Kumumanya, says in order to manage similar wrangles that were encountered at the time of commissioning the seven new markets, the urban authorities need to compile lists of the vendors who were in the old markets.
Mr Kumumanya said proper management of markets is one way of exhibiting good governance because economic growth in towns can only be achieved when the vendors, shopkeepers and traders are operating in an orderly manner.

“We want a list of the vendors who were in the (old) markers on the last day before they were relocated. When we are going to resolve issues of the vendors, that list that includes the name and previous stall number will be of help,” Mr Kumamanya said.
Some of the markets being constructed under MATIP second phase are; Entebbe, Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale, Arua, Moroto, Soroti, Tororo, Nateete, Kasese, Busia, Kitgum and Lugazi.

Taxi and bus parks
Minister Butime issued new policy guidelines on the Passenger Service Vehicles (PSV) annual levy. In the policy, the annual levy will be collected by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and remitted to the urban authorities.

The new policy that is in conformity with the presidential directive of the annual user fees replaces the one the MoLG had issued in February 2017 which provided for monthly levy of Shs80,000 in municipalities and town councils, and Shs120,000 in the capital Kampala. This was resisted by Uganda Taxi Owners and Drivers Association (UTODA) and the Urban Councils and the dispute ended in State House for resolution. The new guidelines now provide for a one annual consolidated fee for each PSV on one specific route and this brings an end to the tender system, undesignated taxi stages and irregular cash receipts.

Presenting the new policy guidelines to the mayors and town clerks during the Friday meeting, the Commissioner for Urban Inspection in the MoLG, Mr Yasin Ssendawula said all PSVs will apply or register annually with the Transport Licensing Board (TLB) to get specific routes of their choice.
The policy signed by Col Butime confirmed the presidential directive on the fees for Kampala Capital City Authority routes as Shs720,000. Those plying routes from Kampala to upcountry towns Shs840,000 and the same amount for those with destinations between local governments. The revenue collected from routes between KCCA and local governments or between local governments will be shared.

“PSVs plying from upcountry to KCCA will annually pay Shs840,000, the sharing between KCCA and destination or the origin local government will be to the ratio of 60:40 respectively. PSVs plying between two local governments will pay Shs840,000, the sharing shall be to the ratio of 50:50,” the policy states in part.
In this policy, the PSV buses will pay an annual fee of Shs2,400,000 shared in equal proportion by urban authorities indicated on the route Chart Issued by TLB. However, the mayors and town clerks have contested the new policy, citing a number of challenges since their councils are no longer in direct contact with the taxi and bus operators.

The Mukono Municipality ayor, Mr George Kagimu, said it will be hard for URA to get the taxis to pay because without the direct participation of the urban councils, the operators have shunned the gazetted taxi parks.
“The taxi operators don’t even want to go to the taxi parks because we no longer have control over them. What I see is that even with the new policy, it will be hard to get those PSVs to collect the tax from them,” Mr Kagimu observed.
Whereas Kabale Municipality mayor Mr Sentaro Byamugisha, noted that the local governments are likely to lose out on revenues because it will be hard for them to establish how much PSVs have paid URA.

Trouble
He also said, the new policy puts the technical staff in trouble because they will not be welcomed in taxi parks to ascertain the number of vehicles loading from there on a daily basis since the registration is now reserved for the TLB.
“There are buses that travel through different towns. It is hard for us to determine how much URA has collected from them and the share for each town where they parked and collected passengers. The ministry should find a way for us to access the register of vehicles plying our routes,” Mr Byamugisha said.

Mr Kumumanya said the ministry cannot reverse a Cabinet policy because it was approved after the Local Governments lost the battle for the management of taxi and bus parks. He said what is important is for the local governments to put the URA remitted revenue on their accounts to deliver services to the people.
“The matter of taxis is very straight. We lost the battle when we presented our paper before the president. Just accept and move on, then use the revenue that URA will remit to you for service delivery,” he said.

The ministry also said buses that ply cross-border routes will not be charged annual user fees because Uganda is a signatory to the East African Community treaties on free trade zones.

Revenue collections
One of the sources of revenue for municipalities and town councils was the daily levy on Passenger Service Vehicles (PSVs) that operate in taxi and bus parks. This daily levy was scrapped in November 2017 in a presidential directive after the taxi and bus operators protested the tax.

Mr Museveni ordered that the PSVs should only pay annual user fees for taxi and bus parks. In April last year, the president said taxis that ply routes within 21km from Kampala would pay Shs720,000 as annual fees whereas those that go beyond would pay Shs840,000.
Municipalities say their collection of local revenue has been dealt a blow by the presidential directive which stopped the daily fees.

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