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KCCA banks on new markets to increase revenue collection by Shs40b
KCCA collects the largest portion of its revenues from property rates. However, it is now banking on newly established markets such as Busega to boost its revenues. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is targeting newly established markets to increase revenue by the end of this financial year
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is banking on newly established markets to increase revenue collection to Shs120b by the end of this financial year.
The projection will be an increase of about Shs40b, which KCCA says was collected in the 2021/22 financial year, with some improvements registered in the subsequent financial years.
KCCA largely generates revenue from business licenses, property rates, ground rent, street parking, passenger vehicle operations, advertisement, market dues and rent, local service tax, local hotels tax, and building plan fees.
The generated funds are, together with central government allocations, used to finance the operations of Kampala City.
Speaking at the President's Office in Kampala yesterday during the review of the NRM Manifesto Week, Mr William Epiaka, the KCCA deputy director of strategy management and business development, said a large portion of the Authority’s revenue is generated from land and building fees, outdoor advertising, market rent and offload dues, local hotel tax and ground rent.
Other sources, he said, include local service tax, business and trading license fees, road user and street parking, and property rates.
For instance, Mr Epiaka noted in the 2023/24 financial year, KCCA generated Shs52.29b, the largest, from property tax and Shs16.67b from business and trading license.
Local service tax contributed Shs14.01b, ground rent (Shs6.22b and road user and street parking fees (Shs6.19b).
However, Mr Epiaka said the new projections had been based on establishing new markets in Kampala from which KCCA expects to generate more revenue.
For instance, he said, the newly opened Busega market has the capacity to host 4,000 vendors, while Kitintali market, whose phase two construction has been completed, is expected to host 2,000 vendors
Mr Epiaka also noted that whereas there was an increase in generated revenues, the Authority still faces challenges such as inadequate financing for key infrastructure, maintenance programmes, vandalism of public infrastructure, and congestion.
Therefore, he said, to address such challenges, they were planning to create other ways of generating more revenue, focusing now on obtaining financing to establish standard markets across Kampala.
